


Evolving

by teenage-mutant-ninja-AVENGER (imnotdoneyetap)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Past Relationship(s), Sirens, Some made up mythology...some not, Soulmates, remembering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:33:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 51,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5451863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotdoneyetap/pseuds/teenage-mutant-ninja-AVENGER
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Serena was the first to fall from the sky. She's the first out of the world creature to land at SHIELD's feet. She doesn't remember anything but knows that whatever sent her here had their reason. Serena, with the help of SHIELD, grows into her developing powers and protects the world when others come to attack. During the battle, she finds herself remembering and soon realizes all she's lost when she comes face to face with the trickster, Loki.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

            My conscious mind woke in darkness. Dark, cold, and wet was what I felt physically. Everything was drenched in the coolness of water. I blinked a couple of times growing familiar with the sensation. All I could see was darkness and raindrops. I sit up and the heaviness of my back almost forced me back down. I looked around and found myself inside an intricately designed circle. I then decide to look at the disturbance on my back to find blue and emerald feathered wings extending behind me. That sensation was fairly new and I quickly turn away knowing those weren’t supposed to be here. That _I_ wasn’t supposed to be here, wherever here was.

            I stood up on shaky legs and tried to see through the harsh rain. My white dress clung to me and, just like my wings, they grew heavier. I took a couple of more steps and stumbled. I was too weak, too tired to move. I remained kneeling not wanting to return to the vulnerable position of lying down. I was confused, lost, and for some reason indescribably upset. Tears started to fall and I didn’t know why. There was something missing with everything that I had already lost. Something more valuable than memories and I didn’t know what.

            I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the flashing lights that soon surrounded me. Men in formal attires and raincoats came out with what seemed like weapons pointing straight at me. I was embellished in light as I stood up from my spot gaining the strength out of nowhere. All of the organized men seemed to falter when they saw my wings extend from my back. It was obvious they hadn’t expected to see that.

            A man, I presumed the leader, hides his surprise as he comes towards me with a gentle smile framing his face. He had some sort of contraption that protected him from the rain and he held it up for me. My wings shrink back and the rain drips through the feathers. I watched the man closely and I knew he was doing the same to me.

            “My name is Agent Coulson. I’m part of an organization called SHIELD. We noticed a discrepancy in the local weather. A sunny day here in California and out of nowhere a tsunami hits down the west coast and a thunderstorm like no other. Then there was the falling star that no astrologist had foreseen so we knew we had to take a look.”

            I didn’t understand a word he was saying. The small portion I did understand was that they knew I wasn’t from here. I look up at the rain and back to the spot I had landed. Men were taking pictures of it and seemed to be bordering the location with a tent to prevent the rain from destroying. I faced Agent Coulson with a mouth full of questions.

            “I started the rain?”

            “Yes, it appears so.” He answers. I couldn’t understand how I could do that. I shouldn’t be able to do that.

            “Can I make it stop?”

            “I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me that.”

            I looked at the clouds and closed my eyes. I tried to will the storm away but too many things were in my mind. Nothing happened as I opened my eyes and I shivered as I realized how cold I had become with the rain and the wet dress. My wings shivered and I had questions about them too.

            “Do you think I can put these away or am I stuck with them forever?” I asked the agent as I passed a hand through the softness of the feathers. I look up at him and could see the concern he had for me. He didn’t know either. I shivered once again and the agent took of his coat and handed it to me.

            “We should get you out of this storm. Maybe some warm clothes and food will help you remember something.”

            He placed a hand at my back and started to lead me through the rain. The other men kept their weapons pointed at me so I brought my wings closer in fear. Agent Coulson was leading me to this big massive contraption and I looked at it curiously.

            “What is this?” I ask him placing my hand on the big metal structure. It was cold and had an odd shaped.

            “This is a SHIELD issued SUV for cases like this.”

            “I don’t understand.” I answer to what he said. “What does it do?”

            “It’ll take us to the base of SHIELD.” Agent Coulson replied his eyes wrinkling a bit as he looked at me.

            “So this is like a carriage with no horses?” I ask him. He nods and I smile at that. “Interesting, I’ve never seen such a thing like this before.”

            “And what have you seen?” Coulson says motioning me inside the vehicle.

            “I don’t know.” I respond quickly. “I don’t remember what I’ve seen, I just know. Like I know that my wings are new and that I have no idea how to revert the weather back to how it was.”

            “Do you know your name?”

            I open my mouth to say no but a deep familiar whisper vibrates through my mind.

             _Serene, your name is Serena._

_**Who are you?**_

_I’m the all-seer. I’m keeping an eye on you. I’m making sure you’re safe._

_**Where am I? What am I? What happened to me?**_

There was no response and I turn back to find Agent Coulson looking at me in concern. I shake the short conversation out of my head and give him an answer.

            “Serena. My name is Serena.”

            “No last name?”

            “Not that I remember. Just Serena.” I answer hoping that the voice would come back for a response but he didn’t. I turn my attention to my wings that were cramped in the vehicle. I shrink them closer to me willing them as tight as possible when I hear a flutter and my wings were gone. That took Agent Coulson by surprise and me as well. I wondered if I could bring them back but decided to wait till we reached a larger environment to try that.

            “You managed to put them away.” Coulson states.

            “Yes, it appears so.” I answer looking at my shoulder blades for a sign of where my wings could be hidden but it was pointless, nothing was there. I look out the window where the rain was still pouring harshly. “Now if there was something I could do about this weather.”

            “I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon.” Agent Coulson told me with another gentle smile. I liked this man. He was kind and encouraging. I leaned on the seat and relaxed. My mind was still a tangled mess but I was relaxed. Someone was looking after me from high above and I was slowly gaining control of whatever power I had. I just needed to find out who I am and why I was sent here.

            “The rain seems to have settled. I’m assuming it must have been your doing.” Agent Coulson says breaking me from my thoughts. I look out the window to see he’s right. The rain had stopped and the clouds seem to be disappearing.

            “My mind is beginning to relax. I’m assuming that’s the reason the sun’s out.” I state voicing out what I believed was the reason of everything that was happening around me.

            “So if you cried, would it rain?”

            “Perhaps and when I’m lost or upset, I believe the storms will come.”

            “You have a lot of power Serena.” Coulson tells me. “How did you not know you had it?”

            “I only know as much as you do but I’m sure of one thing. I didn’t have these powers before but now I do.”

            Coulson nods at this and we remained silent for the whole trip. The vehicle stopped after a while and Agent Coulson made it his courtesy to open the door for me and escort me inside. I saw a building in front of me, it almost resembled a castle, but in a smaller scale. Men dressed in the same uniform were around me. They watched me closely and this unsettled me.

            Agent Coulson lead me inside were immediately a woman came up to him with a serious expression on her face.

            “Director Fury would like a word with you. He wants a direct report.”

            “I’ll go right away. Would you mind keeping Serena company?” he asks her.

            “Don’t mind at all. Fury wants to talk to her as well so we’ll wait outside the conference room until the time comes.”

            Agent Coulson nods at that and excuses himself. I grew anxious seeing the only person I knew and slightly trusted walk away. I turn to the woman beside me who seemed to be inspecting me.

            “My name is Agent Maria Hill. Would you follow me please?” she asks me. I nod and follow after her. I pull Agent Coulson’s jacket closer to me as I got stares from everyone.

            “Is this Fury your king?” I ask her as my curiosity wandered. Agent Hill looks at me in disbelief.

            “No, he’s just our boss. He’s the Director of SHIELD.”

            “Coulson mentioned SHIELD but I don’t understand what that means. Is that a country? A city?”

            “It’s a government organization meaning Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, aka SHIELD.”

            “So you protect the homeland…which is where exactly?” I ask her.

            “You don’t know where you are?” Agent Hill asks me once again in disbelief.

            “Agent Coulson mentioned a California but that’s it. I don’t know where I am.” I answer which caused Agent Maria hill to furrow her brows at me in confusion. “I did fall out of the sky with no memory. You can’t really blame me for not knowing where I am.”

            “I guess you’re right.” She answers as we made our way up the stairs. “We’re in the state of California located in the US of A. We’re on planet Earth.”

            I nodded at that as my mind itched sensing the familiarity of the information. I hated how I couldn’t remember anything. My thoughts changed focus as I noticed everyone we came across stared at me. I was growing more and more anxious about it.

            “Why are they all looking at me?” I ask her.

            “You’re kidding right?” She asks me. I look at her perplexed and she realizes I wasn’t joking. “First, you fell out of the sky. Second your wearing some sort of medieval dress and third you’re incredibly beautiful.”

            “You think me beautiful?” I ask her.

            “Have you not seen yourself?” she asks me. I shake my head and she stops in the middle of the hallway and leads me through a door. There she pushes me in front of the mirror where I find my reflection for the first time.

            I had tan skin, sun kissed I would say, with long black hair that curled due to the rain. There were bright blue eyes staring back. My lips were pink and plump. I traced my face touching my high cheekbones.

            “This is beauty?” I ask her staring back at the agent. Something was unsettling about my reflection. I knew there was something dark under my skin, a sort of evil, and I knew that beauty wasn’t a word to describe it.

            “You look like a model.” She confirms as she looked at her wrist. “Come on, we’ve got to go. We’ll be late to the meeting.” 

            She leads me back to the hallway and walk up to a set of door in which I assumed was where Coulson and this Director Fury were talking in. Agent Hill and I walked through the set of doors and I’m met with Agent Coulson and a tall brooding man with an eye patch I assumed was Director Fury.

            “So this is the angel I’ve heard so much about?” he asks in a deep voice. “I was told she had wings. All I see is a woman with a flowing dress.”

            “An angel?” I ask confused. “You think me an angel?”

            “Well you seem to fit the part.” Agent Coulson remarks.

            “Beauty and wings. Is that all you need to make an evaluation?” I ask him.

            “We took in account the weather too.” Agent Hill states.

            “That’s the most absurd idea I’ve ever heard!” I exclaim.

            “Miss Serena, do you have a theory you’ll like to give us?” he asks me. I shake my head and he grunts in return. “Well neither do we. An angel was our best bet even though I have yet to see the proof of wings.”

            I undrape the coat that Agent Coulson let me use and put my mind to ease. I concentrated in stretching out my back and with the same flutter my wings extend out. They stretched to full capacity, which seemed to be able to take the width of the room. I heard their surprised gasps as my feathers shimmered from the dryness of the rain.

            “Aren’t angels supposed to be all white?” Agent Hill asks referring to the blue and green feathers on my wings.

            “There’s a chance the mythology of angels isn’t true and then there’s the chance that she’s not an angel.” Director Fury states.

            “She seems to know things about herself but not everything. She also doesn’t seem to know modern technology. She said her powers were new to her and she seemed sure about it.”

            “You do understand that “she” is right here.” I state pulling my wings back and with a flutter they were gone.

            Agent Coulson clears his throat and faces Directory Fury again.

            “I think she could be of use. With the right training and certain trials, I think she’ll make a great agent in SHIELD.”

            “You’re reaching out of your limit, Coulson.” Director Fury sternly replies. “You want to train her into protecting a planet she’s not even a part of.”

            “Do I get a say on this?” I ask interrupting their stare down. They both turn to me and I decide to continue. “I don’t know where I’m from and what I am. It’s clear that I won’t be going back to where I came from seeing that I was sent here for a reason that I don’t quite recall what that reason is but I do know one thing. Agent Coulson has treated me nicely ever since he saw me. I trust him to have a good judgment for my future. If he wants me to stay and train, then I’ll do it.”

            “Miss Serena, that’s not his decision to make.”

            “And where will you send me then?” I ask him.

            “I don’t know.” He states.

            “I think that’s a feeling we have in common, Director. Not knowing.” I tell him. “I’ll like to stay here with you people.”

            The Director seemed to be contemplating that when a knock on the door interrupted him from saying anything else. The door opened to a small man with paperwork in his hand.

            “I’m sorry to interrupt but I got the results from the water sample of Location ANG and I was told to bring them up here immediately.”

            “So what did you find?” Director Fury asks him. The man spreads the paper on the table in front of him.

            “The test results show that the water wasn’t like any type of rainwater. It had a high dosage of salt.”

            “And what does that mean Agent?” Fury asks him.

            “After further examination, the rainwater seemed to be ocean-based. Strange thing was that it doesn’t pair up with any sample of ocean water that we have.”

            “So test it with other samples of water.” Directory Fury states annoyed.

            “That’s what we did, sir and…well nothing paired up. It’s like the source of the rain didn’t come from Earth.”

            Directory Fury looks up at me and I knew he was connecting me to the disconnection. He dismissed the agent and kept the file.

            “It seems you’ll be staying Miss Serena. Consider yourself a new recruit to SHIELD.” I was surprised to his quick conclusion and smiled. Directory Fury starts to walk out the door handing out instructions.

            “Agent Hill you’ll escort Miss Serena to her new living quarters. You’ll also retrieve her uniform and her dinner. Agent Coulson you’ll work on her schedule and the training courses she’ll have to take.” Director Fury then turns to me. “I expect many things from you Serena. I hope you don’t disappoint.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you didn't realize where she's from I'll give you some hints. Strange sentence formation, not knowing modern technology, medieval clothing, and DUN DUN DUN the crop circle. If it's still not connecting well I'll just tell you that the voice inside her head was Heimdall. He's the one who's keeping an eye on her. Of course she doesn't know that but later on in the story she'll find out. Also Serena isn't an angel if the hints weren't enough. I'll reveal what she is in the next few chapters depending on where I want the story going.


	2. Chapter 2

         The following weeks were busy for me. I had beginner classes that Coulson planned for me and Agent Hill had given me a simple room with a bed and a small bathroom. With the passing weeks, I now had a bigger room with color, a kitchen, and a closet. The closet was filled with clothes I had never seen before. The jeans were too tight and I had open back shirts due to the extension of my wings. I had a jacket just in case I got cold but other than that my wardrobe consisted of these kinds of clothes.

         With the update of my room I also got a busier schedule. The classes that Agent Coulson started me off with were easy and I was eager to learn. He seemed to notice that and decided to add more classes. My previous classes usually revolved around normal subjects. Agent Coulson would teach me about history and literature. He would bring in experts of other subjects to teach me other materials.

         As for the physical based courses they grew harder too. I used to train with random trainers in the beginning but now my new teachers were Agent Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov. They would oversee my physical training and preparation from now on. Even Agent Maria Hill oversaw one of my new classes, Modern Technology, and I took that with someone new to the SHIELD program too. 

         Steve Rogers.

         Agent Coulson had told me so much about him. It was very obvious he idolized him. He told me that they found him and managed to wake him after 70 years of being frozen and lost. Though he was a man out of time, I was a woman out of space. I assumed those familiarities would give us something to talk about.

         My new courses started today and I was excited for them but also nervous. Director Fury wanted to meet with me after I was done with my classes. This was the first time I would be seeing him ever since the fall and I didn’t know what he would expect of me. So I made a quick breakfast and changed to a backless tank top and leggings for my training. I put my long curling hair in a ponytail and made my way to the gym. There I’m met with a woman with fiery red hair and a blank expression. She must be Agent Romanov, but where was Agent Barton?

         “Hello Serena. I’m Agent Romanov and the man on the beams above us is Agent Barton.”

         I look up as she says that and indeed there was a man sitting on a beam looking down at me. He had a bow and arrow hanging loosely in his hands.

         “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” I answer as I turn back to Agent Romanov. I find her to be examining me like all the other agents have but her eyes made me feel more exposed.

         “She’s very pretty, Clint.” Agent Natasha yells out at him. “She could easily seduce a man to tell her his secrets.”

         “Aren’t angels supposed to be all pure and like _not_ evil?” he asks her.

         “Well not all angels can be clouds and rainbows. She’s got assets that can be trained to use.”

         “ _She_ ’ _s_ right here you know?” I pipe up. “And _she’s_ more than what her looks show. I’m a pretty good fighter. I’ve surpassed all of my trainers.”

         “Yeah, we heard about that.” Agent Romanov states. “They say it’s like second nature to you.”

         “It feels like it,” I answer. “Like muscle memory…I just know what to do.”

         “We’ll be the judge of that,” Agent Romanov states and with no other words exchanged she started to attack.

         I was quick to block most of her punches but it soon became harder as Agent Barton came down from his beam and started to attack as well. It was already hard fighting with Natasha but having Clint on my back as well was adding to the challenge. I was getting very tired at a quick rate. As a last resort, I did what I had to do. With a flutter, both agents flew against the gym’s walls with great force.

         I stood up and my wings flapped and stretched. My feathers extended to touch the walls of the gym and I enjoyed the texture of the matted material. I turn to my left and right to find Agent Romanov and Barton standing up with heavy breaths. They looked at each other with an unreadable expression.

         “I did wrong didn’t I?” I ask. “I used my wings. I shouldn’t have. It put you at a disadvantage.”

         “No, no…you did the right thing.” Agent Barton tells me. “Your enemies won’t take it easy on you. You take any advantage you got.”

         “Have you had anyone check the strengths and weaknesses of your wings?” Agent Romanov asks me. I shake my head at her.

         “Agent Coulson has been meaning to set an appointment with one of your doctors but he hasn’t had time. He’s more focused on getting me a place among you.”

         “Oh that Phil…he should be taking care of you not putting you into danger.” Agent Barton states.

         “I don’t mind really.”

         “Well you should. Your wings could have helped you now but one wrong move, one shot to a vulnerable spot could leave you at your enemies mercy.”

         “Way to soften the punches, Nat. Go ahead and scare the angel.”

         “I’m not an angel.” I tell him retracting my wings.

         “You are until proven otherwise.” Agent Barton tells me. I shake my head at that but didn’t say anything else. I look at the clock, something I now knew told time, and noticed that I was going to be late for my class with Agent Hill.

         “How did an hour pass by already?” I ask as I grabbed a complimentary towel and started to wipe my face on it.

         “You’ve been fighting us for quite some time.” Agent Romanov states. “Longer than anyone has before. Makes me wonder were you learned those moves.”

         “I wonder about that too.” I answer honestly. The itching in my brain started up again. “Same time tomorrow?”

         “Yeah. See you later, angel.” Agent Barton says which causes Agent Romanov to respond with a shove. I didn’t comment once again and made my way out. I braided my hair to hide the sweaty curls as I put a sweater on and made my way downstairs to the designated classroom.

         I walk in and find Maria looking at me annoyed. I was late and she always hated tardiness. I give her a sheepish smile as I turned to the man who was already seated on the table.

         “I apologize for my tardiness. I was training with Agent Romanov and Barton. I didn’t realize we spent that long in our session today.” I apologize to Maria before focusing on my fellow classmate. “Hi, I’m Serena. You must be Steve Rogers aka Captain America. I’ve heard so much about you.”

         “Good things I hope.” He answers.

         “Of course,” I reply. “Agent Coulson speaks highly of you.”

         “Well, he also speaks compliments about you too.” Steve tells me. I smile at that and was about to say something when Maria interrupts us.

         “Can you two save the conversation for later? I’m trying to teach a class here.”

         “Yes ma’am.”

         “Sorry Agent Hill. It won’t happen again.” I say as I take my seat. There were notebooks and a writing utensils for both of us to use. Maria then started to lecture us about the advancement of technology and Steve was quick to make notes. I was more of a listener and took fewer notes than Steve did. Maria even let us start using a phone but just for a little while before Steve accidently crushed it. So there was no more hands on experience until Maria found a phone strong enough for both of us to use.

         After that class and my history lesson with Agent Coulson, I took a shower before eating a rushed lunch to get to my meeting with Director Fury on time. I came in at the same time as Agent Coulson did and he gave me an encouraging smile. He opens the door for me and we walk in together. I see a room full of board members and Director Fury sat at the head of the table.

         “I didn’t realize I was meeting everyone today.” I say out loud. Everyone just stared at me and no one offered me a response. I took my seat beside Agent Coulson and Hill before asking the big question. “What is this about?”

         “It’s been 5 weeks, Serena. Agent Coulson has been updating me in your improvement, which is impressing. You certainly didn’t disappoint.”

         “Thank you,” I answer. “But I doubt I’m here to listen to your praises.”

         “You’re right.” Directory Fury states. He stands up from his seat and walks over to me handing me a file. “Here’s everything we found in your appearance.”

         I didn’t bother waiting for further instructions and quickly opened the folder. I saw paperwork about the change in weather, pictures of my wings that I didn’t know they had taken, notes from Agent Coulson about my improvement. There was information of different creatures with wings but nothing seemed to connect with the symptoms I had shown.

         “Why are you showing me this?” I ask him. “There’s nothing here of value. Just theories that don’t match up with me.”

         “I know that Serena.” Director Fury states. “That’s why we’re holding this meeting. If it was up to me we would have already started the examinations but Agent Coulson wanted your approval.”

         “I trust Agent Coulson’s decision for anything.” I answer.

         “That’s the thing. He wants you to make the decision.” Director Fury states. I turn to Coulson waiting for some sort of sign but he just nods agreeing with Fury.

         “Agent Romanov mentioned that I needed a proper examination. So I can learn more about my strengths and weaknesses. I think she’s right. I can’t be caught vulnerable. I’ll do it.”

         “Good because we’re ready for you now to start these exams.”

         “Now?” I ask shocked. “That’s not much for a warning…”

         “We’ll like to figure out what you are before initiating you as an agent.” Director Fury tells me.

         “An agent?” I ask surprised. “You want me to be an agent already?”

         “Well Agent Romanov and Barton were impressed with your skills. Agent Coulson and Hill have also seen quick improvement in your understanding of our world. All there is to do is finding out what you really are.”  

~~_______________~~

         I was ushered to a wing of SHIELD that I had never seen before. People in white coats and charts walked around. I saw the whole room designated for me. There were machines of different kinds to test everything that had to do with me. I looked at Agent Coulson who took the liberty to escort me in.

         “Thank you,” I say giving him a peck on the cheek. “I think I can manage on my own here.”

         I let go of Agent Coulson and a nurse immediately walks up to me. She leads me to a station and makes me take off my jacket. I do so and before she even asked me to, I extend my wings. Everyone seemed to be startled by them and I accidently drop some glass containers off the nearby table.

         “I apologize for that. I didn’t mean too…” I start to say but the nurse just annoyingly starts to pick up the mess before leaving. Another nurse came up to me and started to measure the length and width of my wings. They took normal measurements too like my height and weight, blood pressure, heart rate, etc.

         After that they told me to put down my wings, not away, since we would be testing my wing capacity the rest of the day. I was then put in a room. They put sensors above my heart and on my head. I was then told to flap them. I did that slowly increasing my strength and speed. Soon the whole room couldn’t keep up with the rate of the wind and the glass windows were shaking in it’s place.

         “Should I stop?” I ask but I hear no response. I continue flapping my wings and before I knew it, my feet were no longer on the ground. I stop once I did that and the whole room became silent. I rip off the sensors and retract my wings.

         “I’m done for today.” I tell them swallowing dry air. “I want to go back to my room.”

         “Serena, we still have much to do.”

         “I don’t want to do more. I’m not supposed to be able to do this.” I exclaim. “I’m not supposed to have wings. I’m not supposed to be able to fly.”

         “Serena we need you to explain what you mean.”

         “Explain. You want me to explain?” I ask them. “I uh…I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be here. But why? Why am I not supposed to be here? What am I? Who am I?”

         “Serena, we need you to take a deep breath.”

         “I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be here.”

         “We’ll take you to your room but we need to know you’re stable.”

         “I want to go home but I don’t know where that is. I don’t know where that is.”

         “Serena…” I hear Agent Coulson say. My head snaps toward his voice and I see him through the glass.

         “I need a minute. I just need…a minute.”

         I sat down on the white tiled floor and took a deep breath. The itch on my brain started up again but it soon stopped when I heard the familiar deep voice.

          _Serena, what’s wrong?_

          ** _I don’t know who I am and these people expect me to. I’m lost. I’m so lost._**

          _Don’t search for who you used to be, Serena. Stop looking for happiness in the same place you lost it._

**_I was happy?_ **

_Yes, you were._

__ _**And I lost it?** _

_**** _ _You were betrayed by someone close to you…someone you didn’t expect. That led to your fall and other things._

_**The change in weather, my wings…**_

_Yes, those things._

_**Do you know what I am?**_

_Yes._

_**Can you tell me?**_

_No._

_**Why not? Please, I need to know.**_

_I must leave.._

_**No, no, no…please don’t leave. I beg of you. Please! I’m so alone here.**_

_You’re never alone Serena. You have friends there and friends here. Just stay safe._

I lift my head and find Coulson kneeling in front of me. He holds a tissue out to me and that’s when I realized I was crying. I ignore the tissue and throw myself in his arms. He seemed startled but didn’t object. He let me cry on his shoulder as much as I needed to before helping me up. We walk out of the examining room and out of the science wing.

“Thank you, Agent Coulson.”

“I think we’ve known each other well enough for you to call me, Phil.”

I smile at that and wipe away the stray tears.

“Well, thank you Phil. For everything.”

“I think we should stop your lessons for the time being. Let everything with you settle for a bit.”

“Are you sure? I know how much this means to you.”

“Yes, but I was so focused on making you a SHIELD agent that I denied you time to cope with your fall.”

I look away when I hear that. Phil was right. I threw myself into a distraction avoiding the idea of the fall. I stop walking the hallway as I looked out the window. Gray clouds were disappearing and I noticed the raindrops that stained the glass.

“I made it rain.” I state.

“Yes, you did.” Phil replies. “It was a gentle storm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A filler with a slight mental breakdown. I'm trying to fill in the space before I add in storylines. Anyways I hope you liked this chapter especially her meeting Steve, Natasha, and Clint. Also I'm making Phil her father figure since he is the one who found her and also comforted her. There was more Heimdall and his eternal wisdom. There was some revelation of her past and she found something new about herself. So yeah...I hope you enjoyed it.


	3. Chapter 3

            A few days had passed since my little breakdown. Phil brought me books to read so I could entertain myself but I never opened them. Instead I would distract myself by going over the file Director Fury had handed to me. The lore he had about angels only fitted me in one aspect; my wings. Other than that, it didn’t fit me at all.

            The other mythology involved creatures that had wings. One that came close to being was a Bulgarian myth of a she-demon named Ala. They had wings and could create storms but that theory was thrown out when their diet consisted of eating children.

            Another theory was that I could be a water dragon but that was discarded since I didn’t have any reptilian characteristics. There was also a theory of me being a Fury or Harpy but controlling the weather wasn’t one of their powers. The one that made me laugh was the idea of me being a fairy, which was still a possibility since there were different types of fairy if they did exist. There was also a Greek myth about a cloud nymph named Nephele and they believed I could be a descendant of hers.

            There were stories of every part of the world and many creatures I could be. None felt right and I assumed that was why Director Fury was having a hard time finding me out. I was so lost in my research that the knock on my door startled me. I hide all of the paperwork into the file before I went to answer the door and who I found on the other side startled me as well.

            “Captain, I didn’t expect to see you.” I say giving him a small smile. Steve sheepishly smiles at me in return.

            “Yeah, I’m sorry to just pop out of the blue but Ms. Hill told me you would be missing our class from now on and I thought that you might want some notes so you wouldn’t be confused when you came back.”

            “Well thank you Captain, but that wasn’t necessary.” I tell him as he hands me a folder full of notes.

            “I couldn’t have you falling behind now could I? Besides it wasn’t much trouble, in fact Maria taught me how to use a copy machine. It was a fun experience. I could teach you if you have some time.”

            “Maybe later, I’m a little distracted with everything that’s happened.”

            “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Steve replies getting a distant look in his eyes.

            “Would you like to come inside?” I ask him. “Keep me company a bit?”

            “That sounds nice.” Steve says and I open the door for him to come inside. I motion him into the kitchen where he takes a seat on the table.

            “Would you like something to drink?”

            “No I’m fine. Thank you.” Steve answers. He eyes the SHIELD file on my table and I knew he was interested in it.

            “You can take a look at it if you want.” I tell him as I slide the file to him. “It’s the information they have on me. They don’t know what I am so they’re trying to figure it out.”

            “I heard you were an angel.”

            “Yeah that’s one of the main theories.”

            Steve opens the file and quickly looks over them. His face shifted to different emotions as he looked over the myths and lore.

            “They honestly think you could be a dragon?”

            “That’s the one you have a trouble believing?” I ask back. “I thought the fairy theory was comedic as if I could be some Tinker Bell.”

            “Hey! I get that reference.” Steve says with a happy smile. “Wait, how do you know about Tinker Bell? I thought you fell out of the sky?”

            “Phil has been giving me literature lessons. My first week were fairy tales and I got to watch…oh Gods, what was it called?” I close my eyes trying to remember the word when it comes to me. “A Movie. I got to watch a bunch of films from this Disney man.”

            “You mean Walt Disney? He was big in our time.”

            “Well apparently he still is. He’s got all these films based on fairy tales. They were really good.”

            “I need to get a hand on some of those.”

            “Oh, I have a few here. Phil gave them to me once he realized how much I enjoyed them. Thing is I don’t know how to use the…the DVD player or the television in fact.”

            “Well you’re in luck. Ms. Hill thought me about that yesterday in class. I should be able to do it.”

            “Really?” I ask happily. “That’s great!”

            I lead Steve to my room and show him the TV and DVD player on display. I pull out the cases that held the DVD’s and give it to him. I watch him as he turns on both machineries and placed the DVD in. Soon the room was filled with music and I see the screen of the TV show the familiar Disney castle.

            “I can’t believe you did it.” I state.

            I take a seat on my bed and Steve sits beside me. I watch with amazement at the moving images. It didn’t seize to amaze me. Steve seemed to feel that same way to but what he says next slightly ruined the moment.

            “Ms. Hill didn’t tell me why you stopped going to classes. She just told me you needed a few days off. I thought you had fallen ill but you seem fine. So it leaves me wondering why you’re just locked up in your room.”

            “I want some popcorn.” I answer. “Popcorn always goes well with a movie.”

            “Serena…” he calls to me. “You can talk to me.”

            I smile at his offer debating whether I should tell him or not. I hadn’t even talked to Phil about this but even he trusted the Captain so I did too.

            “I don’t remember falling or if it hurt or if I was afraid. I just remember waking up dark, wet, and alone. I didn’t know who I was or how I got there. What I did know was that the wings on my back were new and that I lost something more valuable than my memories. I just didn’t know what I lost. I started to cry because of that. I don’t remember when I stopped, but Phil and the other agents found me by then and I never thought back to that day.”

            I look down at my hands and ignore the background music of Beauty and the Beast.

            “It wasn’t until a few days ago that I agreed to some examinations to find out more about who I am and what I can do. I wanted to find my weaknesses and my strengths. I didn’t realize that in agreeing it would trigger the uneasiness I felt from that day. I started to fly, Captain. I flapped my wings so strongly that I was able to fly. I don’t know why that freaked me out but it did. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be able to do that and I knew that the wings on my back weren’t supposed to be there.”

            “So it isn’t the fall or your wings, it’s the not knowing that scares you.” Steve states.

            “Yes, and there’s this…ok this is going to sound insane but there’s this comforting voice in my head. I know he’s not dangerous because he’s the one who told me my name in the first place. So this man he told me not to search for who I used to be. He practically implied that there would be pain if I did so now I don’t know about who I used to be and who I’m supposed to be now. It’s all this change. It just happened so quickly.”

            “I understand what you mean,” Steve says scratching his head. “Actually I know exactly what you mean.”

            “So Captain, what troubles you most of the change?” I ask him. Steve seems to be caught of guard by the question but sighs and gives me an answer.

            “I lost 70 years in a world that I’m a part from. I’m trying to catch up with everything I’ve missed but nothings the same. I don’t think it’ll ever will be.” Steve tells me. He opens his mouth to say more but stops. I wondered what he wanted to tell me but I don’t want to intrude so I decide to end the conversation.

            “Well we might not be in the same boat but we’re in the same ocean.” I tell him. “I think you’re going to be fine, Steve.”

            “And so will you,” he tells me with a smile. “It doesn’t matter who you used to be, what matters is who you will become. We’ll find out what you are, angel or not, and you’re going to be great.”

            “Did you rehearse that beforehand or did it just come naturally to you?” I ask him jokingly. Steve just laughs at me and shakes his head.

            “Let’s return back to the movie. I’ve practically missed half of it.”

            I agree to that and we both turn back to the TV where the plates and cups and other kitchenware were dancing and singing. I hummed to the song and smiled as Lumiere was singing to Belle.

            “ _Be our guest. Be our guest. Put our service to the test._ ”

            I sang quietly and was so sure that Steve couldn’t hear me. I hummed the rest of the song and Steve stood up all of a sudden and left the room. I paused the movie and made my way to the kitchen to find him rubbing his eyes and looking around confused.

            “Are you ok?” I ask him. “You just randomly left. I thought…” I stop talking as I hear the popping and I turn back to Steve confused. “Why are you making popcorn?”

            “I don’t know how I got here.” Steve states.

            “We were watching the movie. It was my favorite scene where all of the furniture sings to Belle and all of a sudden you stood up and left. You didn’t say a word.” I explain to him. “Are you ok, Steve?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine.” He says looking around the kitchen and focusing on the microwave. “Didn’t you say you wanted popcorn?”

            “Yes, I did but it was to avoid the oncoming conversation.” I answer. “I do like popcorn but… what does this have to do with anything?”

            The microwave beeps and Steve looks from it to me a couple of times before snapping out of whatever daze he was in.

            “I should get going.” Steve says suddenly. He walks past me and towards the door. I follow after him concerned.

            “Are you sure you’re ok?” I ask him. “Maybe you should sit down.”

            Steve stops from walking through the door and looks back at me. Something in his eyes made me feel uneasy but he soon gave me a smile that said nothing was wrong.

            “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest. Preferably in the comfort of my room. ”

            “Ok, if that’s what you think is best.” I tell him still concerned for him. “Maybe we can finish the movie some other time.”

            “Yeah, maybe. I’ll see you later, Serena.” Steve said before walking out. I closed the door and couldn’t help but think that he seemed very desperate to leave. I only had one question in my mind.

_Did I do something wrong?_

~~_______________~~

            It was late at night and I was in bed. Sleep tended to come to me very easily except for tonight. I didn’t feel tired at all or maybe I did but I just ignored it. I turn on my back and looked at the blank ceiling. Maybe I should watch some TV, it might tame my mind into sleep. I sit up on my bed and search for the remote when I feel them.

            I heard the thumping of feet and the distant click of a gun. I quickly got out of bed ready to fend off the intruder when all of the lights in my room turn on and the door of my bedroom swings open. SHIELD agents start piling into the room with guns pointing at me. I look at them confused before Directory Fury walks in with his usual blank expression.

            “What’s going on? What’s with the entourage?”

            “Ms. Serena, I have just been informed of a highly dangerous skill that you have. Steve Rogers came forward saying you managed to control him with the simple act of singing. That characteristic, with the others such as weather control and your wings, we were able to confirm what kind of beast you are.”

            I looked at the agents and back at him in fear of what he was going to say next. Obviously it wasn’t going to be good if they decide to ambush me in the middle of the night.

            “What am I?” I ask quietly.

            “A siren.”

            I was to distracted with the revelation that I didn’t notice one of the agents pull the trigger. I felt something prick my neck and it was as if everything turned slow motion. I look down at my neck to find some needle sticking out and I pull it out. Everything seemed to go slower and I suddenly felt tired. I look up to see the figures of the agents blurring and I heard two voices calling out my name. One sounded like the Captain and the other sounded like Phil. I wanted to tell them I was fine but my mouth seemed to be made of lead and it was hard to make it move. My eyes closed and the room seemed to go silent. Someone else entirely was calling my name but I was too tired to listen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN  
> Serena has been revealed as a Siren. 
> 
> Sure, Cap ratted her out but I promise you everything will turn out right in the end. 
> 
> I hope you liked the little Disney Movie scene and Steve getting all techie savvy. 
> 
> Also I would like to tell you that I did some research for this chapter so everything in the beginning is as true as the wiki page I got it out of. Anyways more will be explained in the next chapter and perhaps I'll feel inclined to reveal why the title is named the way it is. 
> 
> So keep reading and thanks for the comments and kudos. They are very much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

            I woke up in a basic room that was devoid of anything. A glass window stood across from me that reflected my reflection back to me. I find myself wearing white scrubs that restricted the expansions of my wings. My hair was down in loose curls and I looked pale. I walk up to the glass window and tap on it. I could feel the people behind it watching me. I wasn’t sure what they were expecting to see but I look away and return back to bed.

            I sat and stared at my reflection. I wasn’t sure how long I’ve been in this room. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know if I was still in the SHIELD base in California or if they moved me somewhere else. All I did know was that I was under captivity because of what I am. A siren.

            It made sense now, I think. Beauty was a part of the myth. They were sea creatures, which explained the storms and the ocean rainwater. Mind control by singing was what they were known for but I still had questions. Why do I have wings? Why don’t I have some fish tail? Why did my song not lead Steve to his death? Isn’t that what sirens are? Killers?

            My brain itches as if it knew the answer but was refusing to let it out. I grasp my head wanting the sensation to go away. It irritated me to no end and it only reminded me that I would never be able to remember what I was forced to forget. The feeling soon went away as the familiar voice appeared again.

            _Serena? Serena, answer me._

_**I’m here. I’m fine.**_

**** _I’ve been calling your name but you weren’t responding. What happened? I lost sight of you for a while._

_**They found out what I was. I think they perceive me as a threat.**_

**** _Serena, you have to get out of there if that’s the case. They might try to execute you._

_**I’m a monster. Maybe they should.**_

**** _You are not a monster. You are a beautiful young creature and the last of your kind. You must be protected at all times._

_**Is that why I’m here? Protection?**_

**** _I can’t answer that, Serena. But do heed my warning; if they’re not planning to kill you then they’re going to use you as a weapon. Whatever they decide to do doesn’t matter; I need you to focus on surviving._

**_I will All-Seer…._ **

**** _Call me Heimdall, for that is my name._

_**Thank you, Heimdall for your guidance.**_

I hear static buzz around the room and I realized it came from speakers that were implanted in my room. I didn’t understand why they would do such a thing until Director Fury’s voice is heard through them.

            “Miss Serena, we have isolated you from our facilities and other agents until we learn more of your abilities and your intentions with them.”

            “I mean no one harm.” I answer but am ignored.

            “I should tell you that the entire room has been soundproofed in order to limit your attempts of mind control. I can see you trying to talk to me but I am unable to hear what you’re saying.” Director Fury tells me. I sigh at that but continue to listen. “We’re conducting research to our fullest extent to find out more about what you are. Once we’ve collected enough information we’ll start up the experiments again and perhaps we’ll let you go.”

            “Perhaps?” I ask surprised. “Perhaps? I’m not a prisoner! I don’t mean anyone harm! I’m not a monster! Please you have to let me out.”

            The speaker static vanishes and I knew he was gone. I angrily got up from my bed and started to slam on the window. I screamed for them to let me out, to at least listen to what I had to say. No one seemed to be responding and I grew angry with that. My shirt tore as my wings extended and with that, something else happened too. I grew out claws. I stared at my reflection to find my eyes turning silver. Everything turned back to normal as I saw what I had turned into and I stumbled back into my bed. I could only stare at my reflection and wonder how someone so normal looking could hide such a monster inside.

~~_______________~~

            I lied in bed for what seemed to be days. My only way of counting times would be the three meals they offered me and when they shut off the lights when I decided to sleep. I had already accepted this fate after my conversation with Director Fury, which wasn’t much of a conversation. I could feel the surveillance was higher than before and I suspected that it had to do with my outburst.

I closed my eyes wanting to fall back to sleep but I heard the food tray being slid down my door for the second time that day. I hadn’t been eating and oddly enough I didn’t feel a need to but I knew everyone who was looking over me where growing worried.

            “Serena, you have to eat.”

            “Phil?” I ask recognizing the voice. I sit up and look at the window. “Phil is that you?”

            “Serena please you have to eat.” Phil repeats.

            I clutch the sheet that I was covered in and pull it closer to me.

            “Phil, I’m so scared,” I start to cry out. “I want to go home. Please tell me you’re listening to me. I just want to go back home.”

            “Serena, just eat and we’ll see what we can do.”

            I almost cried knowing that he was listening. The speaker shuts off after that and I stared at the window. I had been denied visits due to my mind-controlling abilities that I never knew I had or maybe I did. I just didn’t remember anymore. Something itched in my mind every time I tried to remember something and when I thought of singing that annoying feeling came up.

            I stood up from my bed and picked up the food tray. I decided to follow Phil’s and ate the decent food they brought me. I wondered what was taking them so long and why Phil was the one talking to me now. They must have known that I trusted him before anyone and could only hope that he would be talking to me more often. I ate most of my food and set the tray back for it to be taken back. I sat back in bed, with nothing else to do, and waited.

            My dinner tray came later on and I look back at the window wondering if Phil would chastise me into eating again. I decide not to since I still didn’t feel a need to. I pulled off my shirt deciding to extend my wings. Once I did, my claws extended and I decided to inspect them. They were silver and short but sharp. I will them to back and they did. At least I knew I could control some of my new abilities.

            The tray was retrieved and I soon heard the static of the speakers in my room again. I sit up and pull back my wings. I put my shirt back on and wait for whoever was going to speak to me. The static stops and I hear an unrecognizable voice.

            “ _Hello Miss Serena. I am JARVIS. I am an artificial intelligent computer program that Mr. Tony Stark has created. I am here to inform you and to then pass on the message of your decision back to Director Fury. Do you understand?”_

“Yes, I do.”

            _“Very well then. SHIELD has gathered information, mainly myths, about what you are Miss Serena. They’ll like to test some of their information to find out what is truth and what is false. The experiments would start early tomorrow. What they’re wondering is if they’ll be able to escort you out of your room without restraints? They don’t want to risk you trying to escape.”_

“I promise not to create trouble.”

            _“Good. Then we’ll see you in Stark Laboratory early tomorrow morning.”_

“Wait!” I call out having questions of my own.

            “ _Yes, Miss Serena?”_

“Is that where I am? One of Mr. Starks’ facilities?” I ask JARVIS. I knew of Mr. Stark and his advancements in technology and other science based studies because Phil told me of him one day in class.

            _“I cannot give you that information.”_

            “Well you practically gave me an answer…” I whisper taking note to where I was. “Do you know how long will these experiments take?”

            _“There doesn’t seem to be a set schedule.”_

            “Oh, ok… do you know if they’ll hurt?”

            _“I’m afraid I don’t have that kind of intel.”_

“Ok then, forget I asked. Thank you JARVIS.” I look down at my hands thinking that JARVIS had left but his voice spoke out again.

            _“Is there anything you’ll like? Mr. Stark wants you to be as comfortable as you can be.”_

“A book would be nice.” I answer.

_“I can have that arranged. Anything else?”_

“I’m guessing it would be too much to ask for music.”

_“I’m afraid so.”_

“It’s fine, then. Music just tends to relax me. I guess I know why now.”

“ _Your set of books should be arriving soon, Miss Serena. If there is anything else you would like just call out my name. I have been programmed into your room for the purpose of serving you.”_

“Thank you again, Jarvis. That would be all for now.”

_“Goodnight Miss Serena.”_

The books that JARVIS had promised me came in like he said they would. I bring the box over and find different genres and selections to pick from. I knew I should be getting rest for tomorrow but my nerves were keeping me up. In order to distract my unsettled mind I picked a book I was provided and started to read. I only got in a few pages before my eyes started to close due to tiredness. The book falls to the floor and opens up to a later chapter. I caught sight of a name that caused my brain to itch, _Loki the Trickster God,_ now why did that sound familiar.


	5. Chapter 5

            The experiments lasted a week. Jarvis woke me up every morning and told me my schedule for the day. I would then be escorted out of my room with a flank of guards that wore earplugs to protect themselves from my song compulsion if I were to use it. I would then be led to a hall that had different types of experiments. Some held water, some tested my wing strength, and most of them involved the extend of my siren song abilities.

            This past week I learned a lot of myself and it was certainly overwhelming. It turns out that any song I sung could make anyone who hears it be put under my control. The subject then has to do whatever I want them to do and could not fight it. It also turns out that my song could not be recorded and played back. I had to be singing in present time to have any mind control effect. I could even control a mass group of people if I sing into a microphone and the speaker magnifies my song. My mind control via singing didn’t have any exception. All men, women, and children were vulnerable to it.

            As for my wings, I found out that I could fly if I put all of my strength into it. I only lasted a few seconds in the air before I landed on the floor with exhaustion. My wings, were made with blue and green feathers overlapping each other. They tried to pull a feather out to examine it further but were unable to. My feathers were not only a thing of beauty and flight but in the moment of defensive circumstance they can harden to protect me from any harsh blow of any kind. There was no sign of weakness that involved my wings. I was fully shielded.

            The thing that concerned me the most, and seemed to concern the scientists too, were the new set of traits that I received soon after I was imprisoned. My claws were made of some sort of metal that couldn’t be labeled. Like the sea rain water, the metal claws I now had were not of this planet. As for my silver eyes, they provided sight in the darkness and sight in the most unfiltered waters. It was determined that I truly was a creature of water and also of flight.

            After finding all of this out, I didn’t know what else they could test me for. That was soon answered when Jarvis didn’t wake me this morning. I sat anxiously in my cell not knowing whether I should be happy or worried that the experiments stopped. I didn’t know what they were waiting for. Would they set me free? Will they turn me into a weapon? Would they decide to execute me?

            All questions that were passing through my mind stopped when Jarvis’ voice crackled through the speaker.

            “ _Miss Serena, I’m here to inform you…_ ” it starts to say before it seems to start to malfunction. “ _Access denied. Serena cannot receive visitors. Access denied. Serena cannot receive visitor.”_

            “Jarvis, override whatever Fury set.”

 _“But sir, SHIELD has ordered for Serena not to receive visitors._ ”

            “Override the order, Jarvis. Don’t make me say it again.”

            “ _Very well, sir. Door unlocked._ ”

            I was confused through the whole conversation and the new voice that spoke through the speaker. I turn to the door that unlocks and slides open. I quickly stand up and find a man with sunglasses on walk in. He had casual clothing on and he examined me as I was examining him. I stand straighter unsure if he was friend or foe.

            “Who are you?” I ask.

            “How long have they kept you here?” he asks sarcastically as he pulls his sunglasses off. “Tony Stark. Multi-billionaire. The owner of this facility they’re holding you in. The provider of books and friendly Jarvis here.”

            I relax my tensed stance as I categorized him as an ally than an enemy.

            “Mr. Stark, yes.” I state looking at the man that Phil had told me about. “Yes, I know who you are.”

            “Good,” Tony states with a smile. “I wouldn’t want the oh-so-powerful siren to not know who I am. By the way, how are they treating you here? Are you ok? Do you need a new, more comfortable outfit? Do you want some ice cream? Maybe a soufflé?”

            I shake my head to all of his offers and stare at him in confusion. I doubt that Tony Stark was sent to survey me of my stay here.

            “What are you doing here, Mr. Stark?” I ask interrupting him from asking me more questions.

            “Please call me Tony.” He states ignoring my question completely.

            “Mr. Stark...” I start to say but am interrupted by his pointed stare. “ _Tony_ , what exactly is this visit about?”

            Tony opens his mouth to respond but is stopped when another presence enters the room.

            “Mr. Stark, you were supposed to wait upstairs for our meeting,” Director Fury states glaring at Tony. Tony just shrugs in return.

            “Jarvis told me where you were hiding the siren. I just wanted to meet her. You know, make an introduction and such, maybe offer her a position in the Avengers program.”

            “You don’t have the authorization to hand out positions, Mr. Stark. Your purpose as a consultant is to consult. All your able to do is offer advice to the non-existent team.”

            “Ok well you can’t say it's non-existent since you got Captain American Flag on board and if my job is to consult then I’m going to consult to you about how we should include her into the team.”

            “Mr. Stark…”

            “Please call me Tony.”

            “Mr. Stark…”

            “Again, please call me Tony.” Tony interrupts waving his hands and sighing dramatically. “How many times do I have to say that today?”

            “I’m sorry to interrupt this lovely discussion,” I say trying to break Director’s Fury glare at Tony. “But what is this Avengers program?”

            “Nothing of your concern.” Director Fury coldly answers.

            “Actually it does concern her if she’s going to be a part of it.” Tony continues. “You and Phil started to train her for that purpose and she was actually doing very well.”

            “Mr. Stark...” Fury starts to say and Tony opens his mouth to interrupt but Fury stops him from doing so. “Tony, she’s a potential threat.”

            “No she’s not.” Tony argues. I roll my eyes as they spoke about me in my presence. It seems to happen a lot. “Look at her face. That’s a face of pure innocence.”

            “That’s exactly what it’s meant to be, Tony.” Director Fury argues back. “She’s a siren. She lures men with her song and beauty to kill themselves.”

            “ _She’s_ actually doesn’t have the intent that the myth portrays,” I state grabbing the two men’s attention for the first time in their debate. I continued referring to myself in third person to follow along in their conversation. “ _She_  could have easily subdued you two by singing to your unprotected ears to let me go. Yet here _she_ remains waiting for you two to stop arguing.”

            Tony gives Director Fury an “I told you so” look and Director Fury just sighs as his attentions turn back to me.

            “Look, it’s not about whether I trust you or not. It’s about what we found out about you that worries me.”

            “I understand that my abilities can be harmful but I have control over them.” I answer. “And I plan not to use them for destructive purposes. I want to do what Phil wanted me to in the first place, I want to help people.”

            “I’m glad to hear that Miss Serena, but that’s not the point.” Director Fury states causing me to be confused again.

            “Then what is?” Tony asks confused as well.

            “Our scientists reports and the research we’ve done with your kind have led us to a strong conclusion,” Director Fury tells us. “It has come to our attention that you have yet to reach your full potential.”

            Director Fury pulls out a folder and hands it to me. I open it find yellowed aging papyrus paper with scripture that I couldn’t understand. I flip to the next page and quickly look over the research paper written about me. I found nothing that explained why Director Fury only saw me as a threat.

            “What does all of this mean?” I ask him.

            “The translation of the first document is a very descriptive myth of sirens. It depicts them with wings, beauty, claws, and scales adorning their body. It goes on to tell how sailors would be distracted by their song and beauty that they wouldn’t notice the change in weather and the rocks that their ships would soon crash in. It also has a lore about how their wings were taken away as a loss of a bet but in your case you still have your wings. This document describes every characteristic that you have shown.”

            “Ok, but what does this have to do with your reluctance of making me an agent?” I ask him.

            “You don’t have scales adorning your body, do you Miss Serena?” he asks me and I shake my head. “You can’t control the weather, can you?” And once again I shake my head. “That’s the reason why I can’t allow you to be free.”

            “What?” I ask confused.

            “Our research has shown you’re just growing into your powers.” Fury explains. “That you’re evolving into them.”

            “Evolving.” Tony states as realization hits him but I was still confused to the whole thing.

            “Evolving?” I ask. “You’re meaning that there’s more things that I’m going to just magically grow into? That I’ll become a sea monster killing men for pleasure?”

            “That’s what we fear.” Director Fury states. I sit down on the bed feeling a sick feeling run through me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

            “Way to sugarcoat it, Director.” Tony remarks annoyed.

            “She has the right to know.” He answers.

            “When will the transition be done?” I ask him. “When will I become what I’m fated to become?”

            “We’re unsure.” Fury replies. “It seems that all of your cells are dormant. We’ve concluded that they’re waiting for something to activate it but we’re unsure of what the stimulant is.”

            “Please leave…” I whisper quietly as I pull my knees to my chest. Tony and Director Fury remain standing in front of me and I look up at them with tearful eyes and a cold tone. “Leave, now.”

            Without another word, they start to leave the room. I ignore their concerned stares as they walk away and once the door slides closed and locks, do I start to let the tears fall. I cry as my heart burns inside me and I felt the storm in my mind shift to a storm outside these walls.

            A monster.

            A monster under a mask of beauty and song.

            A monster, indeed. 


	6. Chapter 6

            I was in deep sleep that I didn’t notice the opening of my cell door. It wasn’t until I felt myself being lifted did I snap awake and found a dark looming figure holding on to me. I quickly start to struggle and manage to get a few punches in. The dark stranger tries his best to silence his pains but didn’t let me go. I was about to scream my head off when a hand clasped on my mouth.

            “Can’t you stay still?” I hear a familiar voice ask.

            I flash my silver eyes and see that my kidnappers were actually three people that I knew. I stop struggling and stared at them wide-eyed. The person who was carrying me was Steve and Natasha was the one forcing my mouth shut. Clint was checking the hallways for any guards. Natasha finally releases my mouth and Steve lets me down.

            “What are you three doing?” I whisper at them.

            “We’re breaking you out,” Steve answers.

            “You can’t just break me out,” I tell Steve. “I’m a threat to society . I’m going back to my cell.”

            I turn around to start walking back but Natasha intercepts me.

            “Do you know how hard it was to get you out?” she asks. “Tony gave us a small window when he deactivated Jarvis. This is our only chance to get you out.”

            “I didn’t want to be broken out,” I exclaim. “I’m too much of a danger.”

            “Look, until you finish your evolution, you’re not a danger.” Clint tells me.

            “Come on, Serena.” Steve jumps in. “It’s my fault you’re in that awful cell.”

            “Yeah it is,” I tell him. “You should have told me what you found out about me but instead you went behind my back and told Fury. You knew I’ve been trying to find out what I was but once you knew, you ran out, and now I’m here.”

            “I’m sorry,” Steve apologizes and I sigh as I look away from him. I look back down the hall, my cell door still being open, and hesitate.

            “Let us take you to a more safer place. Tony has all these resources…” Clint starts to say but I shake my head at him.

            “I’m not safe anywhere,” I answer. “Fury is right for keeping me contained.”

            I start to walk down the hall to reach my cell door when I’m suddenly grabbed once again and my mouth was quickly gagged. I let out an annoyed groan as Steve proceeded to carry me and Natasha and Clint checked out the corridors. I punched Steve on the back hoping he would let go but he didn’t budge. Next thing I knew, Natasha was cuffing my hands to stop any more attempts of attack. We reached a set of stairs and made it all the way up. There was just a door and Natasha quickly hacks it into opening. Steve carries me out and I find a helicopter waiting for us on the roof.

            I try to argue, hating the idea of climbing into the mechanical contraption. Steve, Natasha, and Clint ignore my scuffled attempts of speaking as they force me in. Natasha turns the helicopter on which alerts the standby guards. I saw them burst to the roof as we started to take off. I glared at Steve and Clint who were sitting in front of me. Clint just gave me a smirk while the Captain was avoiding my stare overall.

            “Should we take the gag off of her?” Clint asks.

            “So she can sing her way back to SHIELD headquarters…hell no.” Natasha answers.

            I try to speak but the gag just mumbled my words up. Steve looks at me concerned while Clint’s smirk grew.

            “What did you say?” Clint asks. My glare just grew and I tried to speak again. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Mind repeating that again?”

            I ripped through the restraints and ripped the gag off my mouth in one quick motion.

            “I was trying to say that you three are the most profound idiots in the world!” I shout. “Fury will be so angry that he’s going to hang all of you! Are you seriously so blinded by the acts of “heroism” that you would save a potential enemy?! I COULD KILL YOU!”

            The whole helicopter became silent and I realized my silver eyes and claws had revealed themselves. I take a deep breath and sat back on my seat.

            “You’re not meant to be kept in a cell.” Natasha states breaking the silence. She slightly turns to look at me. “Like I told you before, you can be put to use...killer or not.”

            “Why would you want someone like me on your side?” I ask them.

            “Why would we want an ex-Russian assassin?” Natasha asks.

            “Why would we want an archer?” Clint asks.

            “Why would we want a man out of time?” Steve asks.

            I remained silent seeing the purpose of it all.

            “This still doesn’t change how Fury is going to in a rage when he finds out I escaped by the help of you three.”

            “He’ll forgive us,” Natasha says turning her focus back to the front.

            “She’s right,” Clint states. “We’re Fury’s favorites.”

            I chuckled at that as my focus went to look outside. There were wispy clouds in the dark horizon and I saw empty acres of land.

            “Where was I all this time?” I ask them.

            “We’ve been in California all this time,” Steve replies. “We used to be in the outskirts of San Francisco but they moved you to a Stark Facility that was located near Los Angeles.”

            “Where are you taking me now?” I ask.

            “A helicopter can’t take you too far,” Clint answers. “Stark has a house in Malibu. Secluded. Has the highest security one person can have. He’ll be taking care of you until we can transport you somewhere else.”

            “Why risk your lives, your reputations, for me?” I ask them.

            “Because we wanted to,” Steve answers.

            “Besides, Phil would have our heads if we didn’t get you out of there.” Clint states.

            “Phil asked for my escape?” I ask him.

            “He certainly did.” Clint answers. “Threated more than ask, but it’s all the same.”

            “If I had known he planned this the whole time I wouldn’t have tried so hard to go back.” I whisper. The sun was slowly rising and the sky was turning shades of pink and orange. A city came into view below us and we quickly pass over it. Trees and hills was all I saw until a huge mansion appeared with the ocean just below it.

            “This is beautiful,” I comment as Natasha lands the helicopter on the roof.

            “We thought you would like it,” Steve replies as he helps me down. I see Tony and a red-headed woman waiting for us. Tony was in a suit and sunglasses. He had a glass in his hands and smiled as we walked up to him.

            “Good, you made it.” He states. Tony then points to the woman beside him. “This is Pepper. Pepper this is the Siren.”  
            “Tony…” she says in a disapproving tone.

            “Right, sorry, I mean… Serena. This is the lovely Serena.”

            “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Pepper says offering me her hand. I shake it and smile at her in return.

            “I apologize for the early intrusion and the aspect that you will now be aiding a fugitive.”

            “We’ve done worser things,” Pepper states.

            “Really?” I ask her.

            “No,” Pepper states. “But Tony has done his fair share of crazy. This isn’t the worst.”

            “She’s right,” Tony responds. “There was this one time…”

            Tony is interrupted as the helicopter turns on back to life. I turn to Steve, Natasha, and Clint to find them loading back on.

            “Where are you going?” I ask them as I run up to them.

            “You’re free and safe,” Steve answers. “It’s time for us to go back to the base.”

            “You’ll be in loads of trouble once you get back.” I tell him.

            “We know but it’s not something we can’t handle.” Clint exclaims.

            “Take care of yourself, ok?” I ask them. “I’ll contact you soon.”

            “It’s better if you don’t,” Natasha says as she puts on her headgear. “They’ll trace it back to here and they’ll find you before we want them too.”

            I frown at the idea of not being able to talk to them after what they done but she was right. I say a quick goodbye and step back. The helicopter flies out and disappears in the distance. A hand is placed on my shoulder and I turn back to see Pepper.

            “Let’s go inside,” she tells me. “Breakfast is ready.”

~~_______________~~

            I rarely saw Tony since he spent most of his times either building his suits or traveling to New York for business. Pepper usually spent her time with me when she could but was as busy as Tony. I didn’t hear from Natasha, Clint, or Steve again and I was worried to what happened to them. A week went by and I spent my times enjoying the library Tony had made for me.

            I spent my days reading myths and tales of sirens. I made notes and found more lore on my kind. I was searching for a reason as to what could activate my evolution but all information I found was things I already knew. I wished I had that old document that Fury showed me. It seemed to have the most reliable information than all of these books combined.

_Serena?_

**_You’re back. I haven’t heard from you for a while._ **

_I saw that you were safe. I didn’t see a need to speak to you._

**_Ok, why are you speaking to me now? Has something changed?_ **

_You know what you are. You’re searching for answers. I need you to stop._

**_Why?_ **

_Serena, you won’t like what you will find. There are things, abilities, and a destiny…_

**_Destiny? What destiny?_ **

_I have said too much. Serena, you must stop searching._

**_I deserve to know who I am, Heimdall._ **

_You deserve more than this life yet fate decided otherwise. Serena, for your safety and others, stop searching for answers._

**_What’s my trigger? I at least need to know that, Heimdall. My evolution isn’t over. I fear for what I will become._ **

_Heed my warning, Serena. Stop searching for answers._

            I no longer felt him in my mind and I return my focus to the book in front of me. I close the myth book in front of me and place it back on the shelf. I felt heavy after the conversation with Heimdall and for the first time in a while, I felt alone.

            My eyes scanned the shelf and landed on a familiar book. I pick the small book out and flip the pages. The images of Norse gods and goddesses fill my mind and myths of wars and trickeries entertained me.

            “What are you smiling about?”

            I turn to find Tony entering the library and I bookmark the book.

            “I was reading a funny myth of the Trickster God.” I tell him as I put the book away.

            “Trickster God?” he asks as I walk with him out of the library down the hall.

            “Loki.” I tell him. “The embodiment of cleverness and mischief.”

            My mind itched at the thought of him but I push the feeling away.

            “I’m the embodiment of cleverness and mischief.” Tony states. “Therefore I am a God.”

            “I don’t think that’s how it works…” I giggle as we make our way to the kitchen. As usual, when Tony picked dinner it was Chinese food. I picked at it as Tony made small talk about a new advancement to one of his suits. I had yet to see him use one but it was only a matter of time.

            “Follow me,” ordered Tony as he threw the empty Chinese take-out box on the table. “I’ve got something to show you.”

            “What do you want to show me?” I ask him as he leads me down the stairs and into the basement he spent most of his time.

            “Just wait,” he answers as he leads me in. I found suits everywhere in different colors and shapes. I was amazed as I walk by them and touched to cold metal. “Wow, these are beautiful.”

            “Yeah, I know.” Tony says with a shrug of his shoulder. “But that’s not the only reason I brought you down here.”

            “Then what is?” I ask looking at him curiously. Tony just grins and clicks a button on the top of his desk. The far right wall starts to open up and reveals a tunnel.

            “This is the way out from here. I used to drive my sports cars out but now I fly out with the Iron Man suit.” Tony explains.

            “And you wanted to show me this, why?” I ask him.

            Tony’s grins just grows wider as he walks up to one of his suits and starts putting it on. He looks down at me, his face mask yet to be put in place.

            “We’re going to race.” Tony states. “I’ve been told you can fly. Let’s see who’s faster. Myth or Science? Wings or Iron Man suit?”

            My jaw dropped as he said this and his face disappeared behind the gold mask.

            “You’re kidding right?” I ask him. “I can barely stay in the air for a second and you expect me to attempt to keep up with you?”

            “Well if you’re going to be a chicken about it…” Tony says as he starts to pull his suit apart again. I press my lips annoyed as to what he was implying.

            “I’m not a _chicken_.” I state. “But SHIELD is looking for me remember? Wouldn’t it be easy for them to track me down when people start to see someone with wings flying around?”

            “You’re right,” Tony states. “But since you can barely get off the ground, where’s the danger?”

            Tony’s cocky behavior easily got on my nerves and I shrug off my light jacket and placed it on the table. I pull my hair to a high pony tail.

            “If you want a race just…I can’t believe I’m doing this…just let me stretch or do something.”

            My wings extend and stretched. All of the feathers smoothed on their own and it was Tony’s turn to stare at me in amazement.

            “I never knew they were this big…” he whispers sounding slightly intimidated. I let my wings flutter a bit before deciding I was ready.

            “Ok,” I sigh out. “Let’s do this.”

            “That’s if you can even get it up.” Tony mutters.

            I manage to shove him aside to the inappropriate joke that over the week with Tony I knew what it meant. After he crashes into the wall I tuck my wings and sprint down the tunnel. I see the daylight soon enough and in three last steps, I extend my wings and jump. I felt time slow down as I felt myself float in the air. Instinct took over and I willed my wings to flap. It took a lot of power but I was flying. It was made easier as my mind resorted to adding strong winds to keep me in the air.

            “You’re doing it.” I hear Tony say beside me as he finally joined me. “I knew you had it in you, kid.”

            “If I fall into the ocean and drown, I will rise from the dead and kill you.”

            “Don’t worry,” Tony assures me. “I’m sure instinct will kick in and you’ll find yourself with a tail to match those wings of yours.”

            “That’s not funny,” I remark as Tony glides down dangerously close to the ocean. My feathers tilt so I could move downwards. I could taste the sea salt on my lips. I stretch my arms and slightly run my fingers through the silkiness of the ocean. I flap my wings harder and sore back into the sky. The winds helping me to elevate quicker. Serenity was key in controlling the weather to my needs. Chaos was what destroyed it.

            The race was far from our minds as we just flew. There were no people on the beaches which was probably why Tony wasn’t too afraid of exposure. We flew for a little while more before deciding to return back to the house. We land on the roof and Tony starts to take of his suits. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh as to what just happened. I would have never thought I’ll be able to do what I just did. All because Tony Stark managed to get on my nerves.

            My smile dropped as my gaze turned to the sliding door opening from the roof. Director Fury walks out with his usual scowl. Phil stood a few feet behind him and Agent Maria Hill stood even more farther back.

            “Serena,” Director Fury states. “It’s time for you to come back.”


	7. Chapter 7

            I should have let them peacefully take me. I’ve been obedient and understanding this whole time but after these past few weeks, I’ve been at my happiest. I’ve been free to do whatever I liked. I simply had freedom. So as Director Fury waited for me to turn myself in, I did the exact opposite.

            “No,” I state. “No, I don’t want to go back.”

            “Serena…” Phil says walking towards me but Fury holds him back.

            “Look, there was a time were I would be obedient and patient but not anymore.” I tell them as I stood firmly towards them. “You held me in captivity, restrained me of my will, and made me fall into a deeper sorrow as I thought myself a monster. Maybe I am some kind of beast, a deadly creature that people should be afraid of, but I have yet to do the things your silly little sheet of old fate says. This _destiny_ you think I’ll fall into won’t happen. I have control over my powers and I want to use it to help people. “

            The roof remained in perfect silence. Everyone just stared at me and I wasn’t sure if it was in shock or pure spy instinct. Their faces held nothing to tell me which one and I suddenly felt the urge to shrink myself from my firm stand. Suddenly, Director Fury sighed and seemed to relax or be as relaxed as he could be.

            “Miss Serena, we’re not here to imprison you again.” He states. “We’ll like you to resume your training.”

            “Oh, wow…ok.” I say, surprise clearly seen on my face. “May I ask why?”

            “We’ve been monitoring your stay here.” Director Fury states. He waves Agent Hill over who holds out a tablet to me. Pictures and video clips of me studying and roaming around the Stark home filled the screen. They even managed to catch a bit of me flying just a few minutes ago.

            “I never really escaped, did I?” I ask him.

            “We wouldn’t let you go unless we wanted to let you go.” Fury replies. “Agent Barton and Steve Rogers are still under the impression that you successfully escaped. As for Agent Romanoff, she knew the real mission.”

            “You’ve been watching me this whole time…” I whisper. I turn to Tony who seems surprised by the news as well.

            “Don’t look at me,” he states. “I had no idea he was doing this.”

            “But why though?” I ask directing my irritation towards Fury again. “Why set me free but keep me monitored?”

            “We wanted to make sure you could handle our modern society.” Director Fury replies. “SHIELD also needed to see you develop your powers. It seems that being stuck in a cell didn’t help with the learning process. We also wanted to know if you could keep control of your powers. If there were any social cues that triggered them or if you held some ill intent with them once you started to use them.

            “So now that you’ve seen me fly, you want me back.” I state still upset with the whole thing. The clouds above us darkened and covered the sun. Everyone looked worriedly at me but I took a deep breath and relaxed. “I’m not sure I want to come back if this is how you deal with such things.”

            “You don’t really have much of a choice.” Fury replies. “Either you come with us or I’ll force you to come with us.”

            “Don’t you dare threaten me.” I state and the crack of thunder accompanies my anger. Director Fury wasn’t standing down and neither was I. Phil intervened between us pretty quickly.

            “Serena, we have a case that is very similar to yours.” Phil states. “Their has been weather reports similar to your arrival occur a few states over. We need you to come with us to check it out.”

            “Why me?” I ask them. “I have no idea how I came to land here far less what caused it.”

            “We don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or if it’s another newcomer.” Agent Hill explains. “It seems that some sort of landing happened an hour ago. We sent a team to go check it out but we’ll like you to go with Agent Coulson and hopefully something might jog up your memory or at least you could give us your insight on what we found.”

            Maria then shows me a different folder of pictures with the same insignia printed on the ground. The sky seemed to be in the same thunderstorm form and another picture showed a large hammer stuck in a concave hole on the ground. My mind itched as I saw all of these images but nothing came to me.

            “Take me,” I state looking up at them. “All of this looks familiar, I just can’t remember… Take me to where this is.”

            “Pack your bags and bid your goodbyes Miss Serena.” Director Fury orders. “You’re going to New Mexico.”

~~_______________~~

            Phil gave me a raincoat and I quickly placed it on. There seemed to be a never ending rain as we arrived which managed to drench us with our raincoats on. Phil leads me into the location of the hammer that has been secured by our best trained men and a hard plastic exterior to protect it from the rain.

            “The rain isn’t my doing.” I tell Phil as I quickly shrug off my coat and wipe away some rain drops from the surface. “The water is like any rain water. It’s not contaminated by ocean salt.”

            “We came up with that same conclusion.” Phil replies.

            I nod at that and step into the crater caused by the hammer’s landing. I circle around it inspecting the drawings. My mind was itching with withheld information but nothing came to mind as I looked at it. I tentatively place a hand on the handle and try to lift it. It only shifted a bit but did not move from it’s cemented position.

            “Have you attempted to remove it?” I ask Phil. He just shakes his head.

            “You’re the only one who’s made it at least shift.” Phil tells me. “None of our machinery can pull it out of the ground.”

            I crouch down beside the hammer and look over the unreadable inscription on the side.

            “ _Mjölnir._ ” I state mindlessly.

            “Excuse me?” Phil asks. I shake my head out of it’s fogy state and stand up.

            “Uhh… nothing.” I tell Phil as I rubbed my head due to the oncoming headache. “I need to rest. My head feels like it’s splitting.”

            Phil stares at me in concern and helps me out of the crater. He leads me out with an umbrella this time into a set up tent with simple bedding. I sit down on the bed and he hands me a glass of water and two aspirins.

            “The insignia, the same one as mine, where is that one located?” I ask Phil.

            “A few miles out…though it’s too late for me to take you there and I fear the storm might have rained it out.”

            “I would still like to see it.” I tell him. “I need to see for myself if this is all real.”

            “What is real?” Phil asks.

            “A chance of going home.” I state.

            Phil looks at me sympathetically and I look down at my hands. My peaceful silence was broken as someone barged in.

            “Phil, I heard you… Serena.” Clint exclaims as he searches the tent and his eyes land on me.

            “Hi, Agent Barton.” I greet and he just seemed surprised to see me. He looked in between Phil and myself.

            “I thought you were free and I thought you told us to set her free and I’m completely confused.” Clint rambles.

            “Serena has been needed for this case Agent Barton.” Phil explains. “The new arrival of this weapon and potential outcast is very similar to Serena’s arrival. SHIELD needed her expertise.”

            “You specifically told me to get her out of here and you just simply brought her back.” Clint responds annoyed.

            “I was never free.” I tell him. “They’ve been monitoring me this whole time. It was some sort of test.”

            Clint seemed to grow even more annoyed as he heard this.

            “You son of a bitc…” Clint starts to say as he lunges for him but I quickly put myself in between them.

            “Clint it’s ok,” I assure him. “I’m fine with coming back. I’m resuming my training as an agent. Everything’s fine.”

            He still wasn’t too happy but Clint did slowly back off. I sighed in relief at that but as soon as peace comes, so does disruption. Phil and Clint’s radio both ring up with static and a report.

            “ _Agents down! We’ve got a perimeter breach.”_

            “Someone’s trying to get in.” Phil states and before we knew it an alarm is sounding every where and lights flash crazily around us. “Barton you know what to do and await for further instruction. Serena, come with me and be prepared to sing or fight, whichever comes first.”

           

           


	8. Chapter 8

            Clint runs into the rain and disappears in the moving crowds. I quickly follow after Phil and we both ignore the pouring rain as we make it back to the sealed off crater. We take another entrance and Phil overhears the status of his guard men. All of them being easily being taken out and I started to wonder if the newcomer was more foe than friend.

            I hear crashing nearby and rushed footsteps of agents running around me. My hair was plastered on my neck due to the heavy rain and I breathed heavily. I wasn’t afraid of the chaos inside. I was afraid of seeing another one of my kind that was evolved more than I was and intent on killing whoever crossed it’s path. Phil stops and I look down to find a crashed ATV in one of the tubes that led inside. Phil quickly starts to bark orders to the agents below us.

            “I need eyes up high, with a gun. Now!” Phil shouts. Thunder cracks above us and Phil turns to me. “Is there really nothing you can do about the weather?”

            “This is none of my doing.” I answer. “Unless I’m the one who caused it, I can control it. This…this is natural.”

            I look at the many screens that show all of the security footage. I see Clint being raised up high with his bow and arrow in hand. My attention then turns to the different screens that focused on the hammer.

            “What do we got?” Phil asks one of the technicians.

            “There is a massive magnetic surge coming off that thing. Systems are barely coping.” he answers as the screen shows the hammer pulsing in orange and reds from the magnetic scan.

            “Barton, talk to me.” Phil orders through the radio.

            “ _Do you want me to slow him down sir? Or are you sending him more guys to beat up?_ ” Clint asks him. I grab onto Phil’s arm as I see the man for the first time. Blonde hair that reached his shoulders, blue eyes from what I could see, and he was built bigger than any man I’ve ever seen.

            “Phil…” I whisper grabbing his attention. My mind itched trying to bring something to the surface but there was nothing. “Phil, I think I know him.”

            “ _Sir, I need an answer.”_ Clint states through the radio again.

            “I’ll let you know.” Phil replies as he looks at me. My focus returns to the screen as I see the man once again defeat many agents. He was headed to the hammer.

            “Serena, is he dangerous?” Phil asks me. “Is he like you?”

            “No…” I answer shaking my head at him. “I don’t know. I just… there’s something familiar about him.”

            The man was about to enter the slowly flooding pit that contained the hammer until our last guard, a big man as well, blocked his way. For the first time we’ve seen him, the man seemed to struggle past our security. They fight past our sight of security cameras. I look at Phil in concern but soon find the man back into our view, walking straight to the hammer. Our security guard was nowhere to be seen.

            _“You better call it Coulson, cause I’m starting to root for this guy.”_ Clint says through the radio. Thor enters the crater and I look at him in anticipation of what he was going to do next.

 _“Last chance sir,”_ Clint states.

“Wait, I want to see this.” Phil replies. I follow after him up the walkway that offered a view of what was happening below us.

            I see the man, a faint smile on his face, place his hands on the hammer and slowly pull. The hammer did not even budge and he placed both his hands pulling more strongly now. Nothing happens and I feel a slight disappointment and pity.

            _Come on Thor._ I encourage him in my mind. _You can do it._

The man screams and groans as if he was in agony. Thunder and rain crashed in the sky seeming to parallel this man’s emotion perfectly. The man lets go of the hammer in disbelief and screams at the raining sky before dropping to his knees. Fallen. Broken. 

            “Alright, show’s over. Ground units move in.” 

            _Wait._ I stop myself as I saw the sad man in front of me being surrounded by a defense team. _His name is Thor._

            **_Serena, get out of there this instant._**

            “Phil, I do know him.” I say ignoring Heimdall’s warning. Phil hearing this, turns to me and grabs my arm. He starts to walk me out of the scene and into the security room where all the security footage was being shown.

            “What are you going to do to him?” I ask Phil in the privacy of the room. Phil remained silent. “What are you going to do to him?!”

            “He’s stronger than most men, Serena.” Phil states. “He came to this world the same way you did. It’s also clear that his combat training is very similar to yours. He’s clearly… dangerous.”

            “You have to give him a chance!” I exclaim. “You saw how he was out there. Something isn’t right. Please Phil, you can’t just lock him up.”

            “I’ll see what I can do.” Phil states. “I’ll interrogate him. See if he knows anything about you or himself in fact. Depending on the information we’ll proceed from there.”

            Phil leaves me alone in the security room. I sigh and plop down on the chair watching the screen filter all the different views of the compound. My head was spinning and I rubbed my face with my hands in hopes that I could relieve the oncoming headache.

            **_Serena…_**

 **** _I’m in no mood to speak to you, Heimdall. I know this man._

_**Yes, you do but making your presence known to him is dangerous. Serena… he can’t know you're alive.**_

**** _Why not?_

_**Like you, he’s banished to this world. He has different reasons of his own to his exile.**_

**** _Why was he banished?_

_**He defied his father’s orders and caused a war with a dangerous race.**_

_His name is Thor. As in the son of Odin._ I pause as my head remembered all the Norse mythology I decided to read amongst other things at Stark's home. _Mjölnir. Heimdall. These are names of myths. How did I not recall them before?_

_**Serena, please you must stay away from this man. If you scratch that wall in your mind to the point of destruction… you won’t survive the memories that will flood in.**_

**** _I don’t understand anything that has happened to me, Heimdall. I need to understand if I want to survive. If that brings my death, then so be it. Don’t ask me to stop searching for answers. It is my right to know the truth._

I could hear him sigh through our mental link.

            **_Very well then. If that is what you wish, I have no other choice but to turn a blind eye to you. I part with one last warning my dear Siren, whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting._**

            _Heimdall?_ I ask not feeling him no longer. _Heimdall?_

I no longer felt the security of him in the back of my mind. The presence of Heimdall seemed to be no more. I wished it hadn’t ended that way but this secrecy would end up getting me killed one of these days. Now with this new incomer from the same place I was gave me the answers I was looking for easier to find.

~~_______________~~

            I watched the interrogation from the double glass window. The technicians worked all around me as they studied mjölnir and the footage of how the man fought. I knew I should have looked over the file of Thor’s arrival but couldn’t help myself but watch how Phil tried to make Thor talk.

            “You made my men, some of the most highly trained professionals in the world, look like a bunch of minimum wage mall cops. That’s hurtful.” Phil states. “In my experience it takes someone who’s received similar training to do what you did to them. Why don’t you tell me where you received your training? Pakistan? Chechnya? Afghanistan?”

            There was no response from Thor at all. It seemed as if he was far away in his own mind to pay Phil any attention at all.

            “No, you strike me more as the soldier of fortune type. Where was it? South Africa? Certain groups pay very well for a good mercenary like you.” Phil continues still not getting any verbal or physical responsiveness. “Who are you?”

            Once again Thor remained silent, looking at Phil but distantly.

            “One way or another, we find out what we need to know, we’re good at that.” Phil states. I grab the phone that was set near one of the computers and dial his number. In the interrogation room, his phone rings and he discreetly turns to the double paneled mirror that I was hiding behind from.

            “Don’t go anywhere.” Phil instructs Thor before leaving the room and heading around to find me. Clint by that time had brought me a cup of coffee to warm my hands and self. The rain had stopped a while back and I couldn’t help but suspect it might have been Thor’s doing. Phil finally makes his way to me and I look at him in concern.

            “One way or another, we find out what we need to know?” I ask him repeating what he said earlier. “And by that you mean me, don’t you?”

            “Look, if push comes to shove, we’ll have you sing your way into a confession.” Phil states.

            “I can’t just force him to talk.”

            “If he doesn’t talk then he’s going to be locked up.” Phil argues back.

            “He’s right.” Clint says beside me. “Fury won’t want a trained super being on the loose. Either he’s with us or not. There is no in between.”

            I rub my head conflicted with the situation in front of me. I sigh as I find a resolution.

            “Fine,” I say with slight nod. “You want to know about him then read a book about Norse mythology. His name is Thor, God of Thunder. The hammer that’s impaled in the crater is Mjölnir, crafted after a dying star, has a great power. Look I know it’s hard to understand that myths can be true…”

            “It’s actually not too hard to make the connection.” Clint mutters. I look at him confused and he just motions at me. “We did get you after all, a siren, a _mythological_ creature, that fell from the sky.”

            “Phil?” I ask hoping he didn’t have a hard time believing what I had just said.

            “I need to make sure that your information is correct.” Phil states. “And if it is… then we have a bigger problem in our hands.”

            Phil leaves the security room and I instantly become worried for Thor. I didn’t know why I had the need to protect him. Perhaps because we both shared the same banishment or because it was something more. Either way, I couldn’t have him suffering the same fate I had. Clint noticed my distressed and squeezed my shoulder in comfort.

            “Goodbye.” Thor states as Phil comes in.

            “Goodbye?” Phil asks confused. “I just got back.” 

            “Sir?” someone says interrupting the interrogation before it started. “He’s got a visitor.” 

            I turn to Clint confused and follow after Phil who had exited the interrogation room once again. I follow him to one of our technicians and nervous looking man waited outside. On the computer screen showed a picture of a license with Thor’s face but under a different name.

            “His name is Donald Blake?” Phil asks disbelief etched on his face clearly.

            I motion to the technician to run tests on the license and he does so. I turn to the man who Phil was speaking to and he nods to Phil’s question.

            “Dr. Donald Blake.” He corrects.

            “You have dangerous coworkers, Dr. Selvig.” Phil states. I stop and looked at the man known as Dr. Selvig more closely.

            “Dr. Selvig?” I ask stepping closer. “As in _the Dr. Selvig,_ theastrophysicist?”

            The man nods at me and I couldn’t but smile at him.

            “It’s an honor to meet you sir,” I tell him. “I’ve read your research papers while I was umm I guess you can say in _my vacation_. You’ve gone very far to understand what most of us cannot even phantom to imagine.”

            “I…uh, thanks.” Dr. Selvig responds unsurely. “And you are?”

            “No one in particular,” Phil states pulling me back. I sigh knowing he didn’t want to reveal to a stranger who or what I was so I returned back to the technician’s side as he typed into the computer.

            “Look my colleague…he was distraught when he found out that you’ve taken all our research. That was years of his life gone. you can understand how a man could go off like that. A big, faceless organization like yours coming in with their jackbooted thugs and…” I look at him narrowly and he just swallows nervously. “That’s how he put it.”

            “That doesn’t explain how he managed to tear through our security." I point out.

            “Steroids!” Dr. Selvig exclaims. “He’s a bit of a fitness nut.”

            “Sir?” the technician calls out. Phil and I look at the computer screen and find the licence image of Thor highlighted in red and words’ written saying it was a false identity. If that wasn’t proof enough, Phil and I both knew that Dr. Selvig was clearly lying poorly.

            “Says here that’s he’s an M. D.” Phil states ignoring those two things altogether.

            “Well, he is! Or he was.” Dr. Selvig replies trying to sound honest. “He switched careers and became a physicist. A brilliant physicist. He’s a wonderful man. He’s a man in pain.” 

            Phil looks at me and then back at Dr. Selvig.

            “He’s free to go.” Phil states. “Agent Barton will show you where he’s being held.”

            Clint silently motions Dr. Selvig to follow him and I stay behind with Phil. I looked at the screen that still flashed red and turned it off.

            “You’re not really letting him go are you?” I ask Phil.

            “Nope.” He answers. Dr. Selvig and Thor walk out of the cell. Phil and I stayed back until they were far enough.

            “Follow them.” Phil orders two nearby agents.

            I shake my head seeing that Thor had fallen to a similar situation as me but not as badly. I turn my chair and face Phil.

            “You stole Dr. Selvig’s work?” I ask him.

            “Some of it his…” Phil replies. “The majority is from a physicist named Jane Foster. Her research collided with our investigation and we needed it to stop.”

            “May I take a look at it?” I ask him.

            “Go ahead.” He answers motioning to a nearby door labeled evidence.

            I quickly make my way towards it and start to shift through the boxes and archives. I come across a laptop and quickly turn it on. Immediately, files flair up everywhere. All of them marked with scientific words that I couldn’t understand. I click on one of them and images start to appear on the screen.

            The pictures retained the same insignia I landed on. There were also images of the storms and then there were magnetic pictures that showed a human like figure. I saw that the dates were recent so I assumed this was Thor’s arrival.

            I looked back to an older picture file and sat frozen in my seat. In a blue and green image that symbolized cold temperatures, there was a magnetic image of another human figure. This one was dated a few months back but instead of it just being a human body… there were wings too.


	9. Chapter 9

            I searched for more information of that date but could not find anything. I looked over the files in the computer and read through all her files but could find nothing. The things I did find were useless calculations and star charts. I couldn’t find any of her notes of that day or any notes of her all. I continued to search through everything that SHIELD had attained but couldn’t find anything.

            “Serena,” I heard my name being called out and I turn to find Phil in the evidence room with me. “Have you been here the whole night?”

            “I’ve done what?” I ask him confused. I hadn’t realized how the time had passed me by and Phil seemed to notice that too.

            “Come on, Serena. Let’s get you to bed.”

            I wave that offer up and return to the files at hand.

            “I’m fine, Phil.” I tell him. “It seems I’ve developed more than we thought. I don’t acquire sleep or nourishment so I’m fine.”

            “Serena…” Phil calls me out in concern. “You can’t just stay here. At least take a break, get some sun, go for a walk…”

            “This Jane Foster has images of my fall, Phil.” I tell him. “It all correlates with Thor’s fall. Neither of us are from this planet. We’re from a whole different world. I finally have a breakthrough! I can’t stop now.”

            “You can’t work yourself to death.”

            “I can try,” I answer still searching through the files. Phil placed a hand on my shoulder and I sighed. I turn back to him once again.

            “Can you please just take a break?” Phil asks me. “For my sake, please.”

            “Fine,” I answer rising from my seat. “Just because I know you won’t stop bothering me until I do.”

            “Good,” Phil comments. “You go ahead. Take a shower and change. I’ll have someone bring you some food.”

            I nod at that and made my way out of the evidence room. I reached my room and did as Phil told me. I felt relaxed as the warm water hit my face and the drops ran down my arms and hair. I hated to admit it but I was a bit tired. Finding my breakfast already laid out for me once I entered my bedroom gave me another reason to thank Phil as my stomach grumbled inside me. I picked at my food for a while before getting up and leaving the room altogether. I couldn’t sit still when there were things pointing to a chance of me returning home.

            “You seem better,” Phil comments as I enter the security room. The video footage that was streaming right now showed SHIELD agents fixing the damage from last night. I turn away from the screens and smiled at Phil.

            “Shower and food did me good.” I tell him. “Have there been any signs of discrepancy with the hammer?”

            “Nothing’s changed,” a tech agent responds for me.

            I lean forward the screen that held every type of reading of mjolnir and found that what the agent had said was right. I sighed and looked back at Phil.

            “And how about Thor?” I ask him. “How’s that supervision on him going?”

            “My agents told me he’s behaving normally. Last I’ve heard, he was having breakfast.”

            “Huh,” I whisper turning away from him and focusing on the countless screens before us. Nothing was changing or so I thought, until the same tech agent from before sat up on his seat and the screens started to go off on their own.

            “What the hell was that?” Phil asks him.

            “I don’t know, sir. We got massive energy readings out of nowhere and then they just appeared. Fifteen miles due northwest.” 

            Phil then turns to me.

            “You want answers?” Phil asks me in which I nod quickly. “Then let’s go take a look.” 

            I quickly follow after him and take the passenger seat of the car. Other field agents filled other cars and followed after us. I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous as we approached another potential arrival. Yet something felt uneasy in my mind and I wished that Heimdall could still be looking over me just in case something was indeed wrong.

           ~~_______________~~

            We were in the middle of nowhere. Sand and a few dry plants were all I could see. I circled around the insignia that seemed burned onto the ground. There was no sign of anyone when we arrived. Nothing told us as to what or who came through. Phil confirmed that the insignia had similar qualities to the insignia that brought Thor’s and my arrival, but that some of the lines were in different places and forms.

            “Get somebody from linguistics down here.” Phil exclaims to the SHIELD crew that were monitoring the area for any sign of activity or danger. One of the agents was about to call it in but I put my hand for him to stop.

            “I can tell you what it says,” I tell him.

            “You can make sense to all these lines and squiggles?” one of the young agents asks me. I nod and kneel down in front of the whole markings.

            “Since when have you been able to do this?” Phil asks me.

            “When you gave me the file about my appearance…” I slowly respond. “I couldn’t read it then but ever since I’ve attained my silver eyes, I’ve been seeing things that weren’t there before.”

            It was obvious by Phil’s expression that he didn’t like this new development. I felt guilty for hiding the information but there was a time I didn’t trust SHIELD and SHIELD didn’t trust me.

            I shook those thoughts and memories away and focused back on the insignia. I stood up and took the whole thing in account.

            “The one’s that Thor and I had were the same for one reason.” I tell Phil. “We were banished here for going against our king.”

            “Then what does this one mean?” Phil asks.

            “This one,” I tell him walking around the circle inscription. “This one says something different. They were sent here by their own accord.”

            Before Phil could respond, a sudden wind picked up around us. It lifted up a slight sand storm and the clouds above us started to swirl into a tunnel.

            “Serena!” Phil calls out to me. I didn’t hesitate and started to run up to his side. My wings subconsciously extended themselves and wrapped around us, protecting us from the sand that was now being blown much more harshly. We hear a sudden boom and the wind died down. I bring my wings back and see a metal robot construction in front of us.

            “Is that one of Starks?” one of the agents ask behind us.

            “I don’t know.” Phil responds. “The guy never tells me anything.”

            Phil grabs a megaphone and starts to walk towards the thing. I grab onto his arm before he could get any farther.

            “I don’t think that’s one of Tony’s.” I tell him feeling uneasy as I saw the mechanical contraption in front of us. “I’ve never seen it before. Just be careful.”

            Phil just smiles at me and I reluctantly let him go.

            “Hello?” Phil shouts out at the mechanical construction. “You are using unregistered weapons technology. Identify yourself.” 

            The silver robot seems to activate and make a whirring noise. It’s hollow face takes in a fiery light. I took in account it’s stance and without thinking started to run up to Phil.

            “Everyone take cover!” I shout and before I knew it, I launched myself in front of Phil at the exact moment the thing let out a fiery attack. My wings once again cocoon us of danger. I felt a sudden sting and drop to my back feeling pain for the first time. Two of our cars that we brought along exploded beside us. Phil was in a daze as he looked at me cringing in pain.

            I could see him calling my name but I couldn’t respond. I felt a sudden burn spread across my back and skin. I gasped for air as I felt myself suffocating in my own pain. There was a ringing in my ears that wouldn’t stop and I saw fire around us. I closed my eyes trying to shut out the pain and destruction and in that moment I found peace.

            **_Serena, scream._**

I heard the familiar voice of Heimdall and sighed in relief but what he was asking of me was strange and I didn’t understand it. Another wave of pain ran through me, preventing me from responding but somehow Heimdall knew what I was asking.

            **_If your song can render anyone under your control, what would your scream do to your enemies? Just scream, Serena._**

Without hesitating this time, I open my eyes to the fiery hell I was in and realized the metal destruction still trying to wipe our agents out. Phil was doing his best to get me to respond to him but I couldn’t. My mind was focus on one important thing, _attack._

            So I screamed.

            I screamed and it seemed that the ringing of my ears stop. It seemed that time had slowed down and the world had become silent. It seemed that with one high pitch scream everything stopped. But this was all my illusion. I saw how Phil and other of our surviving agents held hands to their ears. The silver construction stopped its attack and appeared to glitch. The attacks stop but before I could attempt anything else, the out of space robot disappears into the sky. My eyes tried to follow it but it soon disappeared into the clouds.

            The momentary silence of the world didn’t last long and I soon heard the groans of fallen men and the crackling of fire. I fall onto my knees and whimper as Phil lays a hand on my scorched wings. He starts to carry me into one of the surviving cars.

            “We need to get her to medical,” he instructs the driver as we start up on the road again.

            “But sir, they just contacted us that the robot has entered the city.”

            “Phil, I’m fine.” I mumble but Phil shook his head at me.

            “You’ve been badly injured, Serena. You are most definitely not fine.”

            “I can handle myself, Phil.”

            “You’re losing a lot of blood.” Phil comments and I tiredly close my eyes and rest my head on the seat.

            “I’ll survive.” I mumble.

            “And how do you know?” he asks.

            I couldn’t think of a response and tried to relax. The heat that I felt in my blood a few minutes ago settled into a cold rush. I shivered and Phil noticed.

            “No, Serena. Don’t you dare die on me.”

            “I’m very cold.” I whisper to him. “Very, very cold.”

            “Serena,” he calls out to me but it sounded like it was muffled by water. “Serena.”

            I couldn’t keep my eyes open and felt once again the presence of Heimdall. Except this time I see his face. We were both at an edge of a world it seemed. Water ran through our feet and off the ledge into a dark abyss of stars and nothing. I looked back at him and took in account all his features. He was nothing like I imagined. He was certainly younger and his eyes held galaxies that I’ve never seen before. My mind itched once again and I knew I had seen him before but couldn’t recall when.

            _“Where are we?” I ask him._

_**“In the middle of everywhere and nowhere.” Heimdall responds. “Somewhere only our minds know.”**_

**** _“I like it here,” I tell him playing with the cool dark water that managed to still sparkle. I felt something on my back and notice Heimdall stroking the scorched feathers on my back._

            **_“My child, what have you done to yourself?” he asks me._**

 **** _“I saved someone.” I answer._

_**“And it almost cost you your life.”**_

**** _“Tell me something I don’t already know.” I respond causing him to chuckle at me. I couldn’t help the smile on my face. Something told me we were always like this to each other._

_**“Humanity hasn’t changed you my little siren.”**_

**** _“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”_

_**“Neither,” Heimdall replies. “You were always kind hearted. Put others before yourself.”**_

**** _“Then why was I sent to Earth?” I ask him. “Why was I punished?”_

_**“Because once again you put someone else’s needs before your own. You cared too much and it cost you your memories and your home.”**_

**** _I didn’t know what to say but came up with something anyways._

_“Is this what you meant when you said that if I kept searching for answers, it wouldn’t come as I expected?” I ask him. “That I would have to be near death to get the answers you’ve been hiding from me.”_

_**“This is just the beginning.” Heimdall responds. “There is more you have to know but now is not the time, and it’s not from me who has to reveal them to you. You, yourself, hold the key to knowing everything you care to know.”**_

**** _“You won’t try to stop me?” I ask him._

_**“Even if I tried, you would still pursue your journey of knowing.” Heimdall answers. “ I have said too much as it is. I leave you with a simple hint to another skill you have. Your singing can not only put other people under your control, but it can also heal you.”**_

**** _I saw the stars fading away and felt the waters stop moving beside my feet. I turn to Heimdall and see him walking a distance away from me._

_“Heimdall?” I call out to him and attempt to follow but he continued to walk away and I remained frozen in my spot. “Heimdall?”_

I sit up startled and find Phil looking at me with more concern than before. I could hear him saying something to me but I ignored him. My wings were still extended in the small vehicle and burned from my wounds. I look at Phil and notice that the driver was gone.

            “Cover your ears,” I tell him.

            “What?” Phil asks.

            “Cover your ears, I need to sing.” I respond.

            “Serena…” Phil starts to say unsure.

            “Just do it!” I exclaim as I look at my scorched feathers. Luckily, Phil pulled out earplugs from his coat and put them on. I gasp as I shift forward and my wings accidently scrape against the car seat.

            _“If I touch a burning candle, I can feel no heat. If you cut me with a knife it’s still the same…”_ I start to sing a song that fluidly came into my mind. _“Yet the pain that I am feeling and my wings that are now healing, I know now that I still have something to attain.”_

I felt a sudden wave of relief pass through me and took notice of my black scattered feathers regain their beautiful blue and green color. I ruffled them for good measure before putting my wings away. Phil takes out his earplugs and looks at me stunned.

            “That certainly came out to be handy.” He comments. “How did you…?”

            I interrupt his question as I step out of the car and notice that we were at the edge of the small town. I take notice of the metal contraption miles away from us. It seemed to be attacking and being attacked. Civilians ran past me searching for safety that SHIELD was offering behind me.

            “We need to do something.” I tell Phil who was now at my side.

            “Last time you faced that thing, you almost died.”

            “You sound like Heimdall.” I whisper.

            “Who’s Heimdall?” Phil asks me but I don’t respond. Instead I start to walk into the city ignoring his yells for me to come back. As I walked further and further into the street, did I see the destruction of all the small shops. I walked through burning fires and felt myself shift. Wings extended on my back and claws clicking against each other.

            I saw as Thor approached the contraption and before I could stop it, the robot flings Thor across the street. I could see it wanting to attack him once more but I push off the street and let my wings take me straight into the metal exterior of the thing. We tumble a bit and I scream at it. The thing clutches it’s head and falls to its knees. I use my claws to swipe at its back and arms. Deep incisions were made on it but it didn’t stop him.

            I was backhanded into the air but luckily my wings slowed down the impact. I tumble on to the gravel road feeling cuts and scrapes on my arms. My wings fold in on themselves and I return to my human state. The thing was ready to attack me once again but the thunder crackling and a whirring noise caught both of our attention.

            I turn to the sky and see something leaving a white cloud streak behind it. All of a sudden an explosion happened. I quickly pull myself up my feet and find Thor in all his glory. He held mjolnir in his hand and was dressed in a very elegant armor. I couldn’t help the smile on my face that came natural to me.

            A storm appears out of nowhere and the robot no longer attacked me. It started to fire random shots into the storm, searching for Thor. In it’s attacking distraction, I let out a scream and the machine falters once again. Thor took this chance and sent mjolnir down onto the metal exterior of the robot, going through it completely. The storm dies down with one air blowing blast and the city returns to its original sunny day.

            I allow myself to return my silver eyes to their original bright blue. Phil drives up behind me and rushes out of the car. He quickly pulls me into his arms. I was slightly surprised but returned the embrace.

            “You got me worried there.” Phil states as he pulls away.

            “I told you this countless times, Phil.” I tell him. “I can handle myself.”

            “Yes, you’ve made that very clear today.” Phil states and I pat his cheek reassuringly. “Now get in the car. We have to pay our mutual friend a visit.”

            I laugh at that and do as he says. Phil drives the car through all the rubble and debris. He finally makes it towards the small crowd that had Thor and four people that were dressed like him. There was also Dr. Selvig and two other women that I didn’t recognize. Phil got out of the car and approached Thor. I remained seated just watching them from afar.

            I had to admit I was afraid of facing Thor. Heimdall’s warning from yesterday made me think that something might be wrong if I made myself known to him but part of me always knew to trust him. Always knew that I could rely on this stranger that was most likely not a stranger. Having these conflicting thoughts, I remained in the car and merely resorted to hearing Phil talk.

            “Excuse me?” Phil asks as he intrudes the small crowd. “Donald? I don’t think you’ve been completely honest with me.”

            “Know this, son of Coul. You and I, we fight for the same cause the protection of this world. From this day forward, you can count me as your ally, under two conditions. First, you must return the items you have taken from Jane.”

            “Stolen.” She corrects. I look at the woman who steps up to Phil and assumed she was the Jane that was being spoken about.

            “Borrowed.” Phil argues back. “Of course you can have your equipment back. You’re going to need it to continue your research.”' Phil then turns back to Thor. “What’s your second condition?”

            “The woman.” He states. “The woman who fought the attacker while I was recovering. I’ll like to thank her for assisting my friends and I.”

            I suddenly became nervous as I heard this. Phil seemed hesitant as well and looks back at me in the car.

            “How did you know she was with us?” Phil asked him.

            “I didn’t it. You just confirmed it for me.”

            I could see Phil sigh at this and I knew he was conflicted. I made it easier on him and opened the car door. I noticed everyone’s attention draw to me for that simple act. The car door still shielded me from their view and I hesitate for a split second before taking a step out of the car. I ignore their stares as I close the car door and make my way there.

            As I got closer to them, I noticed Thor and his four companions turn frigid. I could hear a collective whisper from the four people I didn’t recognize but the look Thor gave them silenced them immediately.

            “Serena?” he asks out to me and I stop in my step.

            “You know me?” I ask back in which he nods.

            “Do you not recognize me, Serena?” he asks this time. I wasn’t sure what to respond. I knew who he was but other than that, he was a stranger to me.

            Thor steps forward and I took notice of his hands twitching at his side. He lifts it up and it approaches my face. Instinctively, I grab his wrist and try to twist it behind his back but he manages to turn it around on me. We go through a familiar sparring match in which he starts to laugh in the middle of. I couldn’t help but join in on his laughter as something bubbled familiar inside me. After a while Thor stops and we both step away breathless. Thor laughs at that and I take notice of his teary eyes.

            “You can change everything.” Thor states happily. “Serena, you must come home with us.”

            I take a step back and for some reason shook my head.

            “No, I can’t.” I tell him. “I can’t go home yet. I don’t know where that _home_ is or who you even are.”

            “Serena,” one of the other warriors says having the courage to step up to me. “Do you not recognize us?”

            I shake my head once again.

            “I know Thor.” I state turning to him. “But that was because I recognized mjolnir and I saw how upset you were when you couldn’t lift it.” I turn to the other four warriors. “As for you four, no. I don’t have the faintest clue.”

            “Well I feel insulted,” the same warrior from before responds. The woman beside him hits his side and he winces. She then turns to me and I saw through her hard expression, the sadden look in her eyes.

            “Are you sure you don’t recognize me?” she asks me.

            My mind itched but other than that nothing came up.

            “You seem sort of familiar.” I tell her. “But no. I don’t recall ever meeting you.”

            “Are you sure?” she asks me refusing to believe my answer. “We used to train together. You made becoming the first female warrior in Asgard much more easier to attain.”

            “And you used to sing at our banquets after we came back from war.” Piped in another warrior with red hair and beard.

            “You also used to put me in my place when my devishly good charms got away from me.” The warrior from before tells me with a smile.

            I turn to the last silent warrior who just nods at me as if he was confirming that this was all true. Phil sets a hand on my shoulder and I look at him feeling guilty. I couldn’t recognize any of them.

            “I’m sorry,” I tell them. “I really don’t remember anything you’ve told me. I don’t even know your names.”

            “We’re the Warriors Three and that’s Lady Sif.” The silent warrior responds. “I’m Hogun. That’s Fandral and that’s Volstagg.”

            “Well it’s a pleasure meeting you all.” I tell them.

            Thor and the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif shared a look before turning back to me.

            “My father took your memories.” Thor states. “And he banished you as well.”

            “It seems so,” I tell him. “For what reason, I don’t know.”

            “Then you must come with us,” Thor states again. “We’ll settle this once and for all.”

            I shake my head at him.

            “I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I can’t do that. I… I don’t know who I am or where I’m from or what’s happened to me that got me banished in the first place. I don’t have any memories of where you’re going to take me. I need to find these answers for myself.”

            “But Serena…” Lady Sif starts to say but I interrupt her.

            “I started my evolution as a Siren.” I tell them causing them to become silent. “I don’t know if you recognized that or not, but I have. I must stay here and make sure that I can contain my fate as long as I can.”

            “Please come home with us.” Thor states once again. “I miss my friend.”

            “Believe me, I want to return but I’ve realized now that I have much to learn about myself and it’s better to do that here.” I tell him. “Send my love to Heimdall. And let’s hope we all see each other again.”

Thor and the Warrior’s Three and the Lady Sif seemed reluctant to go. Thor bows down at me and takes my hand. He places a kiss on top of it and sadly looks up at me.

            “May we see again, sister.”

            Before I could ask him as to what he meant as sister, Thor turns to Jane. She kisses him goodbye and Thor and the rest of them, disappeared into the sky. The swirling of clouds return to normal and I feel Heimdall assure me that they returned well.

            “For a second there, I thought you and Thor were married or something.” I hear the girl who appear beside me say to me.

            “Darcy!” Jane exclaims at her colleague. “I’m sorry she tends to say the most craziest things…”

            “Hey! You were thinking it too!” Darcy argues back.

            “Girls please behave.” Dr. Selvig cuts in. I smiled at their little dispute that seemed to derail away from me.

            “Ready to go back to SHIELD?” Phil asks me. I turn to him and nod. I start to walk beside him but stop. Phil looks at me confused but I give him a reassuring smile.

            “I just need a minute.” I tell him as I turn back to Dr. Selvig, Jane, and Darcy. They were still arguing but seeing me walk up to them, they stop.

            “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I had a question for you.”

            “Yes, we are all very afraid of you.” Darcy states out of the blue once again getting a chastising look from Jane. “What? She’s a siren.”

            “I know I erupt fear to those who hear what I am but I can assure you I have control.” I tell them. “I just had one question.”

            “About what?” Dr. Selvig asks.

            “Your research,” I state turning to Jane. “It started just a few months ago. When a…”

            “An Einstein-Rosen bridge first appeared in my calculations.” Jane finishes in which I luckily understood what she meant due to the research I made the night before.

            “Yes, that same bridge is important for many reasons.” I tell her. “It was the first images you ever captured and the ones that launched your research. I read the notes that you transcribed. You were unsure of what the images were showing. Well I have an answer…” I extend my wings and I earned the usual collection of gasps. “What you captured was me.”

            “Oh, ha ha, ok.” Jane mumbles still in shock. “Ok, of course…”

            “You seem to be answering questions instead of asking them.” Dr. Selvig says coming out of his own shock quickly.

            “I do have a question. “ I state. “I just… SHIELD was unprepared and didn’t collect much information about my appearance. Besides, I kind of rained it away. I guess what I’m trying to ask is, did you find anything else?”

            Jane and Dr. Selvig shared a look while Darcy was still staring at me in shock.

            “Well there was one thing,” Jane says reluctantly. She pulls out a silver necklace she was wearing. At the end of it, there was a ring. Jane takes the necklace off and slips the ring out. She then hands me the ring.

            “It took a lot of searching and digging up but we found this.” Jane states.

“We both tried it on,” Darcy states. “Cinderella style, you know, but it didn’t fit either of us.”

            The ring felt warm in my hand and for some reason I felt relief as I held it. I took in every detail it had. The silver band swirled in a beautiful and intricate design that led to the emerald gem that seem to change its shade of green.

            “It’s yours isn’t it?” Jane asks me snapping me out of my haze.

            “It is.” I answer as the ring smoothly slid onto my finger. “He made it himself. Crafted it with his own magic and a stone from his armor.”

            “He?” Jane asks me. “Who’s the he?” I look up at her and the question disturbed me as my mind didn’t give me an answer.

            “I don’t know.” I answer. "I can't remember." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagined the ring looked kind of like this: http://imnotdoneyet-forreal.tumblr.com/post/141684372367


	10. Chapter 10

            Part of me asked myself if I regretted the decision of not returning home, but something told me that I wasn’t fully ready for it. That feeling came to be true as I returned to the SHIELD base and resumed my training. I got stronger and faster in the matter of a few weeks. Director Fury had no choice but to make me an agent.

            It was a relief to know that I was doing something good. Fighting off whatever evil threat made the whole Siren-evil myth much more easier to forget. The assignments I had were mainly based on physical activity. Meaning that Natasha and I, with Clint having a bird's eye view to inform us of further attacks, were paired together to retrieve information or save captives. My singing capabilities where to only be used when the situation needed it.

            Phil had pulled me aside after a mission and worked with me some strategic plans that my Siren qualities could be used in. They wanted me to stay close to their HQ and was stopped from further missions. I was their secret weapon in case of emergency and they needed me close to home. From everyone they had, I was one of their most unique agents and the one that could offer a great defense and offense. After memorizing every plan and strategy with him, I was left to do what I pleased.

            There were moments in which Steve and I would see each other around the base. We no longer had to go through a technology for beginners class as we both managed to figure this modern world out. I have only been in one mission with Steve and it was a minor one. It consisted with me going to New York with him and helping him get settled in his apartment and making sure the security in his building was up to par with SHIELD's.

            Hearing about that, Tony thought that it was time I broke away from living on the SHIELD base and get a place of my own. It was slightly frightening to leave the only place I’ve truly known but Pepper and Natasha offered me many reasons as to why I should. Tony paid for most of my living expenses, for some reason having a need to provide for me, and bought me an apartment near the SHIELD HQ in California.

            My life had turned out pretty well in the past few months. No tragedies fell upon me and everything was good. I found friends and people who I could call family here. My powers were under control and I didn’t have the urge to use them. I found a home here and yes I wondered about where I truly was from but I never once regretted my decision of staying here.

            I played with the ring that Jane had given me. I was currently wearing it feeling more relieved when I had it on me. I wished I could know more of its origin but I was too scared to find out. I’ve tried talking to Heimdall to see if the information would harm me but he’s recently been ignoring me.

            Jane had left me a voicemail the other day revealing to me that the portal from our world to Asgard hasn’t appeared ever since Thor left. That it seemed to have vanished. I felt a sickening feeling as I heard that. My way of going home seemed destroyed and now there was no way for me to return if I ever wished to do so. This news made me think that was also the reason Heimdall hadn’t contacted me. He was avoiding telling me these news too.

            I had these thoughts of concern over these news plus this whole new security plan Phil had just sent in. When it came to me, all these different procedures and set rules were made for me to follow. I walked alone around the SHIELD base. The ring was on my finger and I kept on twirling it. I nodded to the passing agents, who still genuinely felt afraid of me, and entered the training room. Clint was there shooting arrows at moving targets and Natasha was nowhere to be seen.

            “Where’s Nat?” I ask him.

            The arrow he was still aiming flew out of his bow and fell directly to the ground. Clint just sighs and turns to me.

            “I can never hear you come in.” Clint responds a bit annoyed. “Makes me apprehensive of you.”

            “I’m sorry for that,” I apologize to him. Clint just shakes his head and picks up the arrow that was dug into the ground.

            “Nat’s in a mission right now. She should be done by tonight.” Clint tells me. “Was there something you needed from her?”

            “I wanted to spar with her.” I answer. “But she’s not here so… how about you being my sparring partner, huh?”

            “Just so you can whoop my ass… no.”

            “Don’t be like that. You’re really good.”

            “Not without Natasha.” Clint states. “We can both barely keep up with you. How am I supposed to do this solo?”

            “I know you can, Clint!” I exclaim in which he responds with a disbelief scoff. “Come on… I need the distraction.”

            “You know, most women find that in shopping or getting their nails or hair done.”

            “I’m not most women.” I answer. “You of all people should know that.”

            “Uh-huh.” Clint mutters setting his bow and arrow aside. He then stands right in front of me. “Come on let’s get this over with.”

            “Thank you,” I tell him and before I know it, we were at it. Clint was obviously trying his hardest while I on the other hand wanted this to be prolonged. I blocked all of his attacks and even though he left his whole right side open, I detained myself from going for it.

            “So tell me what’s got you in a mood?” Clint says in between breaths.       

            “I’m stuck here because I’m SHIELD’s greatest asset and I just heard news from Jane that the portal to Asgard seems to have vanished.”

            “Meaning that you have no way back home.” Clint gasps out. “Well that sucks.”

            “Don’t I know it.” I answer as I take advantage of his tired state and flip him around. He groans as his back hits the matt and I sit down next to him. “I like it here, Clint. It’s just… I would really like to figure out who I used to be and where I’m from. I just want to know…”

            The green ring on my finger glistened and I stared at it knowing that there was a story there that I was to scared to listen too.

            “So who’s the lucky guy?” Clint asks motioning to the ring.

            “I don’t know.” I answer. “I don’t even know if there is a guy.”

            “With a ring like that there has to be a guy.”

            “I don’t like to think about that, Clint.” I tell him with a shake of my head. “It makes me wonder of what else I left behind. If there was a guy, then maybe there were kids... a family, a home, just so many things I could have left behind.”

            “I doubt you would be able to forget something like that.”

            “I forgot my whole life,” I respond. “Everything's possible.”

            “Something’s clearly bothering you though.” Clint states. “What is it?”

            “Jane’s still searching for another way to get to Asgard and vice versa. So there’s hope… I think.” I answer slipping the ring off my finger and dropping it on the floor.

            Clint doesn’t respond and instead just nods at that. After a moment of silence, Clint grabs the ring from the floor and inspects it. I let him do it while I tried to keep that small hope that Jane offered.

            “What do you think you could have done to be banished here?” Clint asks me randomly. I sigh at the question, unsure how to answer it.

            “I know it has to do with some sort of treason against our king, but I can’t remember what it was.” I answer. “Maybe it was an attempt of murder or trespassing or withholding confidential information. I really don’t know specifics.”

            “I’ll like to think you were some kind of rebel.” Clint says tossing the ring lightly in the air. “Like you and a group of female warriors went up against the king.”

            “I doubt that.” I answer. “Thor and the Warriors Three and Lady Sif were very friendly to me when I saw them last. I doubt I did any kind of rebellion.”

            “Ok how about… you stole the king's crown.”

            “I am not a thief!” I exclaimed in which Clint just laughs at.

            “How about you seduced the king AND his wife?” Clint asks. I slapped Clint in the chest as he fell on the floor laughing.

            “I hate you,” I mutter as I grab the ring out of his hand. “I’m not some home-wrecker!”

            “You can’t say that!” Clint exclaims. “You’re a siren for God’s sake. The master seducer of the sea!”

            “Clint, do you see me seducing men left and right? No. The answer is no.” I respond putting the ring back on my finger.

            “Ok, jokes aside.” Clint says noticing my annoyed expression. “It’s obvious you did something pretty big to get sent down here and have your memory erased.”

            “Yes, I know…” I answer quietly. “…which makes what I left behind either insignificant or worth the risk of being sent here. I don’t know which one’s worse.”

            Clint just pats my back in attempts to comfort me but there was nothing that could help me overcome the prickling feeling of guilt and pain that seem to consume my soul. I look down at the ring again and couldn’t stop imagining the possibilities of where it came from.


	11. Chapter 11

            No one ever used the pool. So I took it upon myself to actually use it. It scared me at first. I feared that some unknown part of the Siren tale would have something to do with water. Yet the tests that happened about a year ago prove that to be untrue but how could I really know if something’s changed? Luckily nothing happened when I merged myself into the water and so I was able to take a daily swim without growing some scaly tail.

            Though the pool was already an avoided place from most SHIELD agents it was even more so ignored when people knew I was using it. I guess in a way this place was mine. It was my little piece of the world and I enjoyed it very much. As flying felt natural to me, so did swimming.

            The feeling of having water slip through my hair and skin. The water drops would drip down my arms, pooling at my finger tips, and falling back to the pool. Ripples ran through the whole pool and I hummed a simple melody causing small waves to build up. I couldn’t help but smile at my small manmade ocean.

            I was relaxing, simply floating, feeling the water slap against my skin as if it wanted to wrap itself around me. It was strange how the water just stuck to my skin. As if it was magnetically drawn towards it but once I stepped on dry land, did it fall off quickly.

            I was glad Clint decided to take the first shift of the night in the surveillance of the tesseract. Ever since Director Fury finally confided us with it’s care, we’ve been trading off who got to watch over it. It was hard to understand how a simple cube of glowing blue light had to be the most guarded in the world. Clint was also horrible with the understanding of the science aspect of it but we both knew that if Fury wanted it protected, it must be protected.

            I dip my head under water forgetting the now useless schedule. I hold my breath under the water for as long as I could. Nothing changed even then. No gills or fins or tails. Just me, holding my breath under water.

            My mind drifted to the idea that Director Fury would be here for the first time in weeks. Ever since the tesseract started to misbehave, which I still didn’t understand how that could be concerning, Director Fury was on his way here and everyone else was forced to evacuate. It was my duty to stay behind. As Phil has told me countless times, I was their best defense and offense and I needed to be wherever the tesseract went.

            It unsettled me that in this exact moment Fury would be arriving and he would be looking at me apprehensively. He still suspected me to snap and rage a war against all men and such. Either way, he was uneasy of me as I was uneasy of him.

            I pull myself out of the water gasping for air. I wipe the water that ran down my face off and groaned as the sirens of the evacuation kept on going loudly. It was worse since it echoed in the pool. I blink the last of the water away and find Phil holding up a towel for me at the edge of the pool.

            “What?” I asked him. “My security shift is useless.”

            “The Director is here and he wants to see you.” Phil answers with a chuckle as I groan once again. “Besides, don’t you hear the evacuation sirens going off? Shouldn’t you be packing?”

            “I’m not supposed to leave the campus remember?” I answer as I pull myself out of the pool. Phil immediately wraps the towel around me and I start to dry myself off. “Anyways, all of my real stuff is at my apartment. Nothing but my uniforms are here.”

            “Get dry and change into a more formal attire.” Phil orders. “Fury will be inspecting the tesseract’s behavior. You’ll find him there.”

            “You’re not coming?”

            “I’ve already met with the Director. I’ll be looking over the evacuation. Everyone has to be out of here in 15 minutes.” Phil yells over his shoulder before slipping out of the doors. I huffed at his exit knowing that he did intentionally so he wouldn’t have to deal with my complaints.

            I grabbed my clothes and hit the showers. I washed the bleach out of my hair and quickly changed into something. Not really caring that the whole campus could be destroyed any second and that Fury really wanted to see me. I’ve gone through worse and I’ve risen from worse.

            I put on a simple dress, ignoring the protocol of the uniform, and made my way to Dr. Selvig’s lab. Agents rushed around me and overall attempted to ignore my presence. I had a long walk to make to reach the other side of HQ. All of a sudden the floor rumbled below my feet. I grabbed the railing and watched as agents around me looked nervously at each other.

            I quickly helped a fallen agent up and started to run through the halls. The sirens kept on going and people were following my example and running to their own safe locations. They ran for their safety while I was concerned for the safety of others. Dr. Selvig, Clint, and most importantly the person who’s helped me through a lot of things Phil.

            I ran at an incredible speed that I didn’t know I possessed. The sirens kept on blaring around us but I was nowhere near where I wanted to be. I bumped into agents that were on their way out. One of them captured me into their arms, my face next to his and I could hear the codename of one of _my_ defense strategies through his earpiece.

            The agent, one I’ve never met before, and others start to flank around me. They dropped everything they were taking and started to move me in the opposite direction I wanted to be.

            “No!” I shouted as I tried to push against them. “My friends! I need to make sure they’re ok.”

            “ _Agent report._ ” I heard Director Fury say to the walky-talkies that the agents around me carried around.

            “We’ve got her, sir.” One of them answers. “Strategy S.I.R.E.N is a go.”

            The building rattled and seemed to be ready to fall in on itself but no matter our situation at hand, these agents were taking me into that lockdown cell. I tried to run out but the door sealed quickly and I was left with one single microphone and the sound system at my control.

            “ _Plan S.I.R.E.N is set and ready.”_ I heard the intercom of my room go.

            “Serena…” I hear Director Fury say in a faint crackling whisper. “I need you to help me evacuate these people as fast as you can make them go. I also need you to bring the perpetrator of this whole fiasco to you.”

            My orders were set and I knew there was no way out of this unless I did what he told me to do. Phil had prepared me for this. _I_ had prepared myself for this. I was saving lives and I was catching the bad guy. This was what I wanted and I needed to do it.

            I cleared my head and for once heard silence. No more blaring sirens. Only one needed to be broadcasted.

            “Playing S.I.R.E.N… now.”

~~_______________~~

Third's POV

            Chaos. There was nothing but chaos all around him and he thrived in it. With the scepter in his hold and the most trained men from this base under his control, Loki was unstoppable. Nothing could hold him down. Nothing could stop him from the glory that he was about to receive. Nothing… or so he thought.

            The agent named Barton procured a vehicle for them and other agents rode on with Loki in order to protect him and the tesseract that was under his control. The building rattled with such anger that he knew it was essential they must leave now and that was what he had plan to do until the sirens stop blaring and one single voice crackled in the speaker

            “Playing S.I.R.E.N…now.”

            Loki was confused as to why they announced that they were playing the siren when they already had. Agent Barton turns back to him with a warning at the tip of his tongue knowing what this meant but Loki was deaf to it. He was deaf to it as an angelic voice that he hadn’t heard for the longest of times echoed through the speakers.

_I remember when your head caught flame_

_It kissed your scalp and caressed your brain_

_Well you laughed, baby it's okay_  
_It's buzz cut season anyway_

 

Loki closed his eyes and his heart ached once again. It ached like the first time he had ever heard her sing.

 

 _Explosions on TV, and all the girls with heads inside a dream_  
_So now we live beside the pool, where everything is good_

 

With the vehicle driving at a fast speed, Loki made himself jump out of the back and started to make his way to her voice. That voice that he had so longed to hear ever since they told him that her voice had died along with her body.

 

            _And I'll never go home again_

_place the call, feel it start_

_Favorite friend_

_and nothing's wrong when nothing's true_

_I live in a hollow ground with you_

           

Loki pushed past agents that where on their way out. He didn’t pay attention to the fact that these agents were under _her_ control and frankly he didn’t care. All he knew was that he had to find her. Just see her once more and make sure that is was actually her. That she was indeed alive.

 

_The men up on the news,_

_they try to tell us all that we will lose_  
_But it's so easy in this world,_

_where everything is good_

 

He didn’t suspect anything when the doors at the end of the hall he was in on cue opened. In the distance he saw the similar curves of her body. The dress she wore moved like waves on the beach and her black silky hair reached her waist. Loki’s run turned into a slow walk.

           

            _And I'll never go home again_

_place the call, feel it start_

_Favorite friend_

_and nothing's wrong when nothing's true_  
_I live in a hollow ground with you_

 

Loki walked into the room, defenseless. The scepter in his hand that wield so much power was useless when the woman in front of him, who had her back on him, who played with the ring on her hand, was the key to his own demise. Without realizing it, the doors shut behind him and locked. The room was silent and Loki uttered the name he never expected to say again.

“Serena?” he asked quietly, afraid that the woman in front of him was a trick in his already fragile mind.

The woman in front of him became frigid at the sound of his voice. It was as if time slowed down as he saw her head tilt towards him.

Her skin was still tan even more so and he suspected it had to do with her visits to the beach. That must certainly be it. Her long black hair was longer than he remembered but it still curled into beautiful locks of waves. His eyes scanned her light pink lips and then his green eyes met her blue ones. Not blue like the sky in the day but blue like the color of the purest ocean.

Loki expected an expression of happiness but instead finds Serena frowning at him. Concern was etched all over her face.

“I’m sorry…” she whispers genuinely. Serena herself didn’t know why she apologized to the man that was in charge of the HQ being blown up. She just felt a need to apologize to his fallen face. “I’m sorry.”

Loki was confused at her statement until he looked around him noticing just now that he was entrapped in a metallic cell with no way out.

“We’ve got him.” Director Fury tells Serena as he enters her cell. “Now we must get you to safety.”

Loki looks back at Serena who was allowing herself to be taken away.

“Serena!” he called out once again.

At the mention of her name, she turns around and watches him again. Loki placed his palm on the glass of her cell, desperate for her touch.

“I will find you.”

Serena narrowed her eyes at him ignoring Fury’s orders that were being yelled at her. Yet in the blink of an eye, the whole scene in front of them changed and it baffled them.

In the cell that supposedly held Loki, the mirage of his face shimmered away. No one was left in the locked cell because there was no one inside of it to being with. Director Fury had no time to make sense of the scene and instead started to drag a confused Serena out of the collapsing building.

Loki opened his eyes and found the vehicle already distances away from the base. His heart faltered when a few minutes afterwards the building creaked and concave itself. He clutched the scepter tighter into his hand, a new sort of determination rising into his chest. Loki would have Serena back to his side. No matter what it takes.

~~_______________~~

 

            Director Fury didn’t speak a word to me as we saw the vehicle that held the tesseract and a brainwashed Clint drive away. He didn’t say a word to me when he ordered a car to our direction and drove in silence. Director Fury didn’t even look at my direction as he pulled his walky-talky out and started to ask for everyone’s status.

            “I’ve got Agent Serena out in time. The tesseract is with the hostile force.” Director Fury states. “I have men down. Hill?”

            “ _A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors.”_

“Sound the general call.” Director Fury states. “I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case.” 

**_“_** _Roger that.”_

“Coulson, you here with me?” Directory Fury asks into the walkie talkie.

            _“Yes, I’m here.”_ Coulson answers causing me relief. “ _I was able to get Phase 2 out, sir.”_

“Good. I need you to get back to base.” Director Fury orders. “And take Serena with you. This is a level seven. As of right now, we are at war.”

            _“What do we do?”_ Phil asks him uneasiness obvious in his voice.

            Director Fury pauses and looks up at the starry sky. He was silent and his face held a calm expression. He almost looked hopeful which quickly faded away as his eyes landed on me. Fury raises the walkie talkie up to his mouth again.

            “Start Phase One in the Avengers Initiative.” Fury states giving me a glance. “And add Serena onto that list.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song I used was Buzzcut Season by Lorde  
> Ever since I've heard this song I knew it fit very well with this story and I might have tweaked some of the lyrics in order to make it so. 
> 
> On another side note. The last scene which is in third POV was inspired by some tumblr imagine.  
> http://imaginewriting.tumblr.com/post/137406328499/imagine-100-loki-laufeyson-not-my-gif
> 
> Anyways thanks for reading and I hoped you ENJOYED IT!


	12. Chapter 12

            I paced at the landed helicarrier as Phil waited for Natasha to pick up the phone. In his hand he carried files of every person Director Fury had listed for the Avenger Initiative. Being the only one here and available I was technically the first recruit. It was obvious Fury wasn’t too trusting on my allegiance to SHIELD even though I proved myself countless times that I was simply here to help. Phil sighs as the call to Natasha goes to voicemail.

            “She didn’t answer.” He states.

            “What kind of mission was she on in the first place?” I ask him. “Clint told me she was supposed to get back like a few days ago. What’s taking her so long?”

            “I don’t know.” Phil answers. “But she’s not answering her phone which is not a good sign. I’m going to have to guess that something went wrong.”

            That caused me to be more anxious than I already was. Clint was taken by a maniac Loki and Natasha’s in trouble. I rubbed my face stressed in the situation that we found ourselves in. I felt guilty for leaving Clint alone to supervise the tesseract and I hated myself for not being able to stop Loki.

            I was unsure of what to think of what happened with Loki. I was able to manipulate him into the cell cage but he was never controlled. He simply made an illusion and tricked us all in the end. I knew Director Fury would have questions about this, especially since Loki seems to know who I was. Yet Fury has yet to interrogate me on this and I had to assume it was because the tesseract had first priority.

            I turn back to Phil who once again has the phone to his ear. An agent on the computer in front of us looks back at Phil and points out the screen. A red dot appeared in a map of some building. Phil seeing this quickly dials another number and waits for them to pick up. It only took a couple of rings before a Russian greeting was heard through the speaker.

            “You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, 3rd floor. We have an F22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby.” Phil states not allowing the Russian mafia leader to even respond.

            _“What?”_ Natasha mutters sounding annoyed.

            “We need you to come in.” Phil simply replies.

            _“Are you kidding? I'm working!_ ”

“This takes precedence.” Phil answers.

            _“I'm in the middle of an interrogation and this moron is giving me everything.”_ Natasha responds. _“Look, you can't pull me out of this right now.”_

Phil sighs and turns to me. We both knew that Natasha was stubborn about missions but I knew that Clint was a big part of her life too. He was her partner for who knows how long and I’ve seen first hand how those two work together. If she was going to come help us, it would have to be a very good reason as to why.

            “Let me talk to her.” I say raising up my hand so Phil could hand me the phone.

            “You sure?” he asks me. I sternly nod and he reluctantly passes over the phone.

            “Nat?” I ask getting a quick yes. I didn’t know what to say or how to start. “I’m so sorry, Nat. I should have… I should have run faster…” I sigh and just let out the horrible truth out. “Barton's been compromised, Nat.”

            There was a brief pause and I held my breath waiting for some kind of lashing out in Russian.

            _“Let me put you on hold.”_ was all Natasha said before it goes silent.

            I hand the phone to Phil and the sounds of fighting and pain was heard so clearly that even the tech guy from earlier seem to flinch in his seat. It was hard to tell who was getting hurt but my bet was that Natasha was winning. After a while of bone-cracking sounds, the phone went silent.

            _“Where's Barton now?”_ Natasha asks us. __

“We don't know.” Phil answers.

            _“But he's alive. “_

“We think so.” Phil answer. “Selena will brief you on everything on the way of your next mission.”

            I look up at him surprised at the random assignment.

            “We need you to talk to the big guy.” Phil tells her.

            _“Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me._ ” Nat replies.

            “No, I've got Stark. You get the _big_ guy.”

            Natasha curses in Russian while I looked at Phil confused. I knew Tony and I also knew Steve were on the list of the Avengers Initiative but neither of them could be “the big guy” Phil was referring to.

“I feel like I’m missing something here.” I state as Phil hangs up the phone. “Who am I and Natasha speaking to? And why me?”

            “Let’s just say, he’s a very big potential danger who might need the persuasiveness of your powers to get him on board.”

            “Is this your decision or Fury’s?” I ask as he starts to pull up a file of a man’s name I had never heard of before. Images and videos start opening up on the computer screen and I see the destruction and chaos that ensued of a green beast that was now turning into a man. Phil seeing my reaction shuts it all off.

            “Both.” He answers. “From all of our agents, you’re the one most equipped to be able to put him down if he decides to go beast mode.”

            “What happened to him?” I ask him. “What made him this way?”

            “Natasha will debrief you of his situation.” Phil states as he starts to walk down the hall. “For now, start packing your bags. Make sure to dress for hot summer nights. You’ll be going to India.”

**~~_______________~~**

Natasha was unhappy how things went down in SHIELD’s HQ. She didn’t like how I left Clint unsupervised. She didn’t like that he was supervising the tesseract in the first place. She didn’t like that some unknown magic voodoo, was what she said specifically, was the thing that brought a great agent to break his loyalty to the greater good of mankind. Natasha was upset at me for not being able to do anything but she also knew that I wasn’t one to blame. I had a plan I had to execute and that took priority, even though in my heart I didn’t want it to.

            Phil was right when he told Nat and I to dress for warmth. The sun had gone down hours ago but the heat was still the same. It might have been even worse with the humidity that the night seemed to bring. Natasha was wearing an orange custom Indian sari while she insisted on me wearing a blue one.

            I looked around the small house that we were waiting in. Natasha was inspecting it as well and I knew she was searching every escape route and it’s availability. I let my silver eyes glow as I searched the darkness of the night for any signs of him. After a while, I let my blue eyes return and just sigh as I wave a hand over my face trying to reduce the heat.

            After a few more minutes of waiting, the little Indian girl from before ran into the house and as she was told, ran out of the window. I saw the shadow of the man we were after and could see him sigh at the sight of the disappearing girl.

            “Should have got paid up front, Banner.” he mutters to himself.

            Natasha pushes away the curtain and makes her way out to him. He turns to her apprehensively but nothing happened.

            “You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle.” 

“Beautiful, though.” I state as I follow after Natasha. My eyes capture the entirety of the curly haired, tan man in front of me. He seemed tired and something in his eyes seemed kind. It took me a while to remember that this man in front of me, Dr. Bruce Banner, was hiding a beast inside. “We’ve only been here a day but the city is enriched in culture. Though a bit populated, I can see why we may be concerned for your… stress management.”

            “Avoiding stress isn't the secret.” Dr. Banner responds his eyes looking into mine, searching for something. Trust, perhaps. Most likely an answer to the alarming question in his mind as to why we were here.

            “Then, what is it?” Natasha asks snapping his attention back to her. “Yoga?”

Dr. Banner chuckles at that as he sets his medic bag down on the old splintered table. He looks out the window.

            “You brought me to the edge of the city…smart.” he comments. “I uh... assume the whole place is surrounded?”

            “Just you and us.” Natasha tells him.

            “And your actress buddy, is she a spy too?” Dr. Banner asks, his tone more loudly. “Do they start that young?”

            “I did.” Natasha answers.  

“How about you, huh?” he asks turning back to me. “When did you start this whole espionage career?”

            “Honestly, just a few months ago.” I answer. “But I’ve had prior training.”

            Dr. Banner was apprehensive still and it was logical to be that way. He looked at both of us, scanning for any sort of deceit, but Natasha and I were skilled in the art of hiding dark shadows within ourselves.

            “Who are you?” he asks us at last.

            “Natasha Romanoff.”

            “Serena.”

            “Last name?” he asks me.

            “None that I know of.” I state causing his eyes to look at me questioningly. “I have a case of amnesia, Dr. Banner. I just know my first name.”

            This didn’t seem to relax him at all. In fact, he seemed more uneasy than before. 

“Are you here to kill me, Serena and Ms. Romanoff?” Dr. Banner asks with a shake of his head. “Because that's not gonna work out for everyone.”

            “No. No. Of course not.” Natasha answers walking closer to him. I follow after her knowing we were reaching the minimum distance that we were supposed to have with Dr. Banner. Yet even with this restriction, Natasha walked one more step closer.

            “We’re here on behalf of SHIELD, Dr. Banner.” I state putting a hand on Natasha warning her to stay put. 

**“** SHIELD.” Dr. Banner repeats, tasting the word in his mouth. “How did they find me?”

 **“** We never lost you, Doctor. “ Natasha states. “We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent.”

            “Why?”

            “Nick Fury seems to trust you.” I say a slight smile on my face at the irony of that word. Dr. Banner looked at me blankly and I kept on going. “But now we need you to come in.”

            “What if I said no?”

            “I'll persuade you.” Natasha answers with a gentle smile.

            “And what if the... other guy says no?” Dr. Banner asks.

            “Then I’ll step in and persuade him.” I answer honestly noticing the surprised look in his eyes. “You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to break that streak.”

            “I don't always get what I want.” Dr. Banner states.

            “Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe.” Natasha tells him walking to her purse and pulling out her phone. She starts to pull up the SHIELD files while I watched Dr. Banner pace himself to the table.

            “Well, those I actively try to avoid.” Dr. Banner says with a chuckle.

 **“** This is the Tesseract.” Natasha informs him as she slides the image of the blue cube on her phone towards Dr. Banner. “It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet.”

            Dr. Banner pulls out his glasses and looks at the image on the phone.

            “What does Fury want me to do?” he asks us. “Swallow it?”

            “Well, he wants you to find it.” I inform him. “It's been taken.”

            “It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace.” Natasha continues as she takes a seat on the table. “There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where we'd be.”

            “So Fury isn't after the monster?” Dr. Banner asks taking of his glasses, his question in a tone of disbelief.

            “Not that he's told us.” I tell him taking a wary step towards the table.

            “And he tells you everything?”

            “Talk to Fury,” Natasha replies instead. “He needs you on this.”

            “He needs me in a cage?”

            “No one's gonna put you in a... “ Natasha begins to respond, reaching over the table for her phone, when Dr. Banner slams his table on the table.

            “STOP LYING TO ME!” he roars.

            I instinctively pull Natasha’s chair behind me, guarding her in the magnitude of my blue-green feathered wings. Natasha pulls her hidden gun out and clicks off the safety. For the first time I’ve known her, Natasha’s hand seemed to shake. I turn away from her and face Dr. Banner. My silver eyes glowing and my metallic claws were extended, ready for any blow or attack.

            “I'm sorry,” Dr. Banner says backing away from us, hands raised in surrender. He was surely shocked to see me this way, but not as shocked as other people have been. “That was mean. I just wanted to see what you two would do.”

            I still didn’t put away my wings, unsure if he meant what he said.

            “Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use…that,” he says motioning to my sharp claws. “And the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay?” Dr. Banner says in a calm tone. I still inspected his every move, an instinct of mine to not believe what he was saying. “Serena…”

            Part of me didn’t want to shy away. For some reason, part of me wanted to remain like this and wait for an attack. The sound of my name come out of his mouth was what snapped me out of this haze and I let myself shift back. Natasha hesitantly places her gun down and speaks into her earpiece. 

“Stand down.” She orders them. “We're good here.”

            Dr. Banner looks at us with a smile.

            “Just you and me?” he asks sarcastically.

            “Believe me.” I state as I watched the countless armed agents pull back from the house. “Those agents aren’t here for just your beast. They’re here for mine too.”


	13. Chapter 13

            It was obvious that Dr. Banner was not enjoying the flight at all. I could tell by his nervous shaking hands and the way he glanced around the average sized jet. I couldn’t help but giggle as I sat beside him hoping that a simple distraction like a conversation could ease his mind. If not, Natasha, who was piloting the jet at the time, and I would be in a lot of trouble if we started to fall out of the sky. Only two of us from the three would survive… hopefully.

            “Dr. Banner,” I state having his head snap towards me. “Are you alright?”

            “No, I’m not.” he answers beside me. “Am I making it that obvious?”

            “Just a tad,” I answer. “Maybe tone down the anxious glances to the jet and I think we’ll all be fine.”

            Dr. Banner just laughs at that and seems to relax.

            “That’s much better,” I comment becoming relaxed on my own. I leaned back on the seat, catching sight of Natasha’s thankful glance, before returning my attention to Dr. Banner as he just sighed. “So Dr. Banner…”

            “Please call me, Bruce.”

            “Bruce,” I repeat feeling the name strange on my lips. “I’m glad we’re on a first name basis.”

            “Well seeing that only one of us has a last name, I thought it would be best.” Bruce states. “Why is that by the way?”

            “Like I said, I have a case of amnesia.” I tell him. “It might also have to do with where I came from and that’s a completely other story.”

            “Does that story involve what you are?” Bruce asks me.

            “No, that answer comes with the story of how I got drugged and kidnapped because they weren’t sure of what I was.”

            “You’ve lived an interesting life.” Bruce comments.

            “And so have you.” I state. “Or so I’ve seen.”

            Bruce once again chuckles at that.

            “Should have known you’ve seen the videos…” Bruce whispers.

            “You know I’m not afraid of you, right?” I ask him.

            “I seriously doubt that.”

            “Are you afraid of me?” I ask him instead.

            “Well what’s under your skin is beautiful compared to mine.”

            “I don’t know.” I respond. “You did see me, right?”

            “Yeah, the most beautiful wings and silver eyes that could tear into a man’s soul.”

            “And what about the silver claws?” I ask him not finding comfort in his compliments. “Or that if I open my mouth and sing I control people’s lives without their permission.”

            “You’re a siren.” Bruce whispers in realization.

            “Yes, I am.” I sigh out. “Beauty in everything I am.”

            “A blessing compared to my curse.”

            “Me from all people should know not to judge what hides under our skin.” I tell him. “Besides you’re other self seems quite the catch. I’m a big fan of the green.”

            Bruce just laughs at this and I couldn’t help but join in.

            “If you two are planning to unleash the Hulk I suggest you do that in another time and another place. Maybe when all of this over and we’ve got the tesseract back?” Natasha pipes in from her pilot seat.

            “Don’t worry Agent Romanoff,” Bruce says once again nervously looking out the jet window. “I won’t be letting the green guy out any time.”

            “And I won’t be letting my Siren out either.”

            “Good, because we’re about to land shortly.” Natasha states and once again Bruce’s hands start to shake nervously. I could only laugh as I see him clutch his seat tightly. I grab a hold of his hand in hopes that it will ease the tension again. Bruce just smiled timidly at me and in all her grace, Natasha landed the plane with ease. We all got out, Bruce smiling in relief as his feet touched ground. I couldn’t help but laugh at that causing him to smile at me this time.

            “I’ve got some errands to do,” Natasha states turning to us. “I can assume you can take care of him.”

            Natasha leaves with a smirk not allowing me to answer her question at all. I roll my eyes at her and start to give Bruce a tour around the helicarrier.

            He seemed out of place here and he didn’t try to hide it all. His nervousness was as clear as day. Anyone who saw us walk by watched us closely and attentively. I tried to ignore and it seemed that Bruce was too anxious about being here overall to notice. We were still walking around the landing strip when I catch sight of a golden blond, broad shouldered man. I couldn’t help the squeal that passed my lips as I ran towards him.

            “Steve!” I shout allowing him enough time to turn around and catch me. I couldn’t help but laugh as he spun me around. “It’s been so long.”

            “Tell me about it.” Steve answers as he finally settles me down.

            “It’s so great to see you again,” I tell him.

            “This is who I have to compete with…” Bruce says a small smile on his face as he finally caught up.

            “Oh, I’m so sorry!” I exclaim towards him. “I totally just abandoned you. Dr. Bruce Banner meet my friend Steve Rogers, aka Captain America.”

            They both shake hands given a weary glance at each other.

            “What about me?” Phil asks behind me. I turn to Phil who couldn’t stop smiling.

            “Phil, I’m always happy to see you.” I state giving him a hug as well.

            Natasha soon joins us greeting everyone with a curt nod. She then turns to Phil, arms crossed behind her back.

            “They need you on the bridge.” Natasha tells him. “They’re starting the face-trace.”

            “See you there.” Phil tells us both before taking his leave.

            “It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon.” Natasha tells Steve.

            “Actually, I’m pretty sure he did.” I comment. “Has he asked you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”

            “Trading cards?” Steve asks confused.

            “Thank you!” I exclaim turning to Natasha. “Look, I’m not the only one confused by them either. Cards you buy and then trade, it doesn’t make sense!”

            Natasha just shook her head at me and turned to Steve.

            “They're vintage, he's very proud.”

            I notice Bruce fidgeting again and I grab onto his arm.

            “You’re not used to people yet, are you?” I whisper to him. He just shakes his head in agreement.  
            “Dr. Banner,” Steve calls him out, grabbing his attention. “Word is you can find the cube.”

            “Is that the only word on me?” Bruce asks nervously.

            “Only word I care about.” Steve answers.

            “Must be strange for you, all of this.” Bruce says motioning to the landing strip.

            “Well, this is actually kind of familiar.” Steve replies looking around.

            “Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute.” Natasha says and I notice everyone taking their leave. I couldn’t help but smile as I felt the engines below me slowly start to turn on. “It's gonna get a little hard to breath.”

            The noises become louder and Steve and Bruce look around them.

            “Is this is a submarine?” Steve asks concerned.

            “Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?” Bruce asks nervous once again. Both men start to walk to the ledge of the helicarrier.

            The helicarrier then releases its four huge fans and starts to slowly lift this whole massive base up in the air. Steve and Bruce could only stare in awe. I couldn’t help but smile and let my wings spread out momentarily.

            “Oh, no.“ Bruce whispers beside me. “This is much worse.”

            “Are you sure about that?” I ask him, causing him to turn to me in surprise. He looked at my wings once again but this time instead of shock he seemed amazed

            “Beautiful…” Bruce whispers.

            “It certainly is.” I respond with a smile as I turn to the scene before us.

            “That is definitely not what he meant,” Natasha states before grinning at me and escorting Steve inside. I turn to look at Bruce instead but he was sheepishly looking away and making his way inside. Seeing that everyone was leaving me behind, I quickly put my wings away and followed the others inside.


	14. Chapter 14

            The doors part open and we enter the center of the whole organization. Dozens of agents were working the systems of the helicarrier, making sure that everything was in order and running well. Agent Hill was supervising and shouting off orders. Director Fury stood over them on the center control panel and watched them work.

            Natasha left my side as she went to look over the search they had for Clint. Steve went off to admire the view from the glass windows and I was left with Bruce. He nervously looked around the control room, shying away from the armed agents that surrounded the room. After a few minutes, we all joined up at the conference table set-up in the middle of the control room.

            “Gentlemen.” Director Fury nods towards Steve and Bruce. Steve just nods in return before investigating the control room further. Director Fury walks over to Bruce and extends his hand. Bruce reluctantly takes it. “Doctor, thank you for coming.”

            “Thanks for asking nicely.” Bruce replies glancing towards me. “So, uh... how long am I staying?”

            “Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind.”

            “Where are you with that?” Bruce asks him. Director Fury points towards Phil to explain.

            “We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet.” Phil explains. “Cellphones, laptops… If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us.”

            “That's still not gonna find them in time.” Natasha comments.

            “You have to narrow the field.” Bruce pitches in. “How many spectrometers do you have access to?”

            “How many are there?” Director Fury asks.

            “Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places.” Bruce tells him. “Do you have somewhere for me to work?”

            “Agent Serena, since it’s clear you two have become fast friends, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please.”

            I just nod and turn to Bruce with a smile. I start leading him down the hall.

            “You're gonna love it, Doctor Banner. We got all the toys.” I tell him. “Though I’m going to be frankly honest, I was taught most of your world’s modern technology but what’s in your lab leaves me confused as ever.”

            “ _Your world_?” Bruce repeats to me. “Are you not from here?”

            “Oh, I just let it slip, didn’t I?” I wince.

            “Are you telling me that you’re an alien?” he asks me interested.

            “That would be the correct term,” I answer. “But like I said, I don’t remember much of my past life before I came to earth. So I won’t be able to answer your questions of the universe.”

            “Wow… that’s…”

            “Weird?” I answer for him. “Yes it is.”

            I stop as we reach the secured doors. I swipe my id over the scanner and the doors automatically open. I motion for Bruce to step in and he quickly scans the room. He slowly takes of his suit coat and starts to roll up his sleeves.

            “I guess I should leave you to your work,” I state ready to leave but Bruce stops me from approaching the doors.

            “Wait, I might need some assistance with some of this.” Bruce tells me.

            “Are you sure you want my help?” I ask him a bit concerned. “I might mess it up with my inexperience in this… science department.”

            “Don’t worry, I won’t ask too much of you.” Bruce replies. “Besides it’ll be a learning experience for you.”

            I sigh but knowing that I had nothing much to do until we find Clint or Loki with the tesseract.

            “Very well, then.” I tell him pulling up my hair into a ponytail. “What can I help you with?”

            Bruce started to direct me to one of the screens and gave me directions to open up a map of the whole world. He then used all of the touch screens to conduct his search, explaining to me as he walked to each one of them. I helped him in any way I can, writing down notes, telling him of locations that were dead ends, and handing him tools that he needed. We had narrowed down the places that the tesseract could be but they were still too many.

            “So tell me more about yourself.” Bruce states suddenly as he focused on one of the screens.

            “Why the sudden interest?” I answer.

            “Because you know everything about me,” Bruce replies. “I think it’s only fair I know something about you.”

            “Valid point,” I state as I sit down a nearby stool putting away the tablet that held some satellite readings. “Ok, well I guess I should start from the very beginning and forgive me if I don’t give many details, I’m not much of a storyteller.”

            Bruce just nods at me with an encouraging smile. I take a deep breath before returning the gesture.

            “It was about a year and a few months ago when I fell from the sky in some Californian desert. I had wings, there was a storm, and I had no memories. SHIELD found me pretty quickly and they took me in. It was all mostly Phil who helped me adjust to this world and defended me from most SHIELD protocols. I had no purpose and I clearly had some power which is why Phil and I thought it would be best to join SHIELD.”

            “That quickly?” he asks me.

            “I went through some training and classes. That’s where I met Steve and we became friends but… at that time, we didn’t know what I was and they were conducting some heavy research. In the end, Steve found out about my siren singing ability and outed me. I was then drugged, kidnapped, and caged for my safety and others.”

            “Are you serious?” Bruce asks shocked. I nod but I smiled at him, showing him that I was no longer angry anymore.

            “Yeah and it was a good thing they did because I gained some abilities after my capture. I gained the silver eyes and claws at that time. Luckily after experimenting the limits of my new and old abilities we learned that I’m still growing, still evolving into my final Siren stage.” I tell him as I looked down at my hands. “It’s hard to believe that I can become more dangerous than I already am…”

            “What’s your final stage?”

            “I don’t know and I’ll rather not find out but…” I hesitate but continue. “…well without knowing what the trigger is, who knows when I’ll come to my full power.”

            “You think you’ll become a monster, don’t you?” Bruce asks me. I look away from him and that was answer enough. He walks into my line of vision and captures my attention once more. “Compared to me, you will never be a monster.”

            “I don’t think you’re a monster, Bruce.” I whisper to him. “We’re one in the same.”

            Bruce was going to respond to that but was interrupted by the doors of the lab opening.

            “Excuse me for barging in like this, but Serena we’ve found him.” Steve states as he looks at me.

            “How is he? Is Clint ok?” I ask him quickly getting up from my seat and walking over to him.

            “I’m sorry, I should have clarified. We found Loki through the face-trace.”

            I sigh as I hear this but was glad with the quick development. I turn to Dr. Banner, guilty for having to leave him, but he just nods, allowing me to leave. I give him one last smile before walking out with Steve.

            “Location?” I ask him.

            **“** Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse.” Steve tells me. “He's not exactly hiding.”

            “What are Director Fury’s instructions?”

            “We’re up to retrieve him.” He tells me. “Natasha will pilot the plane. You are to make sure that no civilian is harmed with the capture.”

            “Ok,” I answer with a nod.

            “There’s something else…” Steve says reluctantly. I look at him concerned as he avoided my stare.

            “What’s wrong?” I ask him.

            “Director Fury would like to speak to you before we go.”

            “Should I be concerned?”

            “It’s hard to read the guy,” Steve states. “But he seems very serious when it comes to you.”

            “I almost disobeyed his orders last time,” I confess to Steve. “And when I first encountered Loki I wasn’t able to control him when I sang. I think he’s concerned I’m losing my touch.”

            “I doubt it.” Steve states stopping in front of his room.

            “Well I do.” I tell him before continuing down the hall towards the control room. It was busy as ever since they’ve captured Loki on camera. Director Fury was looking over all of their research when I approached him.

            “Sir, you wanted to see me?” I ask him.

            “Serena, I assume that Captain informed you of your next mission.”

            “Of course, sir.”

            “And will we run into the same problem as the last time we faced Loki?” he asks turning to look at me. I sighed at the question.

            “I’m not sure,” I answer. “I was able to help many of our agents to escape at the base and I should have been able to control Loki as well but…”

            “…you weren’t able to.” Director Fury finishes for me. He just sighs and narrows his eyes at me. “I assume you don’t know why that is.”

            “I just have my own theories, sir.” I answer.

            “And what are those theories?”

            “Perhaps it’s because we’re from the same world or his magic prevents him from being put under control.” I tell him. “You saw what power he wielded, he was able to put other people under his control. Perhaps I can’t control someone who’s already in control.”

            “Those are strong theories, Serena and some of them would explain why he recognized you.” Fury states. I knew he was waiting for a reaction but I myself didn’t remember if I ever met Loki before this.

            “My memory is still blank Director,” I tell him. “There’s a chance I might have met Loki before my arrival on earth but for now, I can’t remember him.”

            Director Fury seemed pleased with my answer and nods.

            “I advise you to suit up, Serena.” Fury states for the first time with trust. “If push comes to shove, I want you on Loki.”

           ~~_______________~~

            It was sudden the screams that we heard from the quinjet. Natasha, Steve, and I had just barely made it to Germany. We could hear from the videos streaming to us the screams of the guests and nearby citizens. Loki appeared everywhere, surrounding the large crowd and forcing them all together.

            “ _Kneel before me._ ” He ordered. The crowd remains standing and Loki slams his spear to the ground. “ _I said. KNEEL!”_

The cries and screams were silenced as everyone kneeled before him. I couldn’t take Loki’s small victory any longer and stopped watching the live feed.

            “Natasha, open the back!” I shout at her.

            “Why the hell would I…?” Nat begins to ask before I flashed my wings open. “You won’t have back-up until a few minutes.”

            “I need to get those civilians out alive.” I tell her. “It’s worth the risk.”

            Natasha sighs and glances over at Steve. He looked at me worriedly but knew that this was the quickest way to get an agent on the ground.

            “Let her go,” Steve tells her. “We’ll reach ground in a few minutes and she has her earpiece on her. She’ll be fine on her own.”

            Natasha opens up the back, the high winds blowing everything inside the quinjet. I nod towards one last time and ran out of the quinjet. I pull my wings closer to me as I dove down from the sky. I saw the distant crowds and quickly opened up my wings, slowing down my decent.

            _“It’s the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”_

 _“Oh no,_ ” I hear Captain state.  
            “What?” I ask him. “What’s going on?”  
            “ _An old man just stood up, he’s refusing to fall under Loki.”_ Steve tells me. “ _You’ve got to get in there fast, Serena”_ Steve states agitatedly.

            “I’m on it, Captain.” I state as I dropped my altitude more.

            “Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example.”

            Hearing Loki’s threat on my own and seeing him raise his scepter, I let myself drop from the sky. I felt the blast hit my wings and it knocks me down a bit. I wince as I felt the familiar burn on my feathers but use all of my strength to stand up.

            “Shall I kneel as well?” I ask as I turned to Loki with my head held up high. “Because if I have to, we will end up disagreeing.”

            “Serena…” Loki whispers in surprise before regaining his superior composure. “Of course not, my dear. You deserve to stand by my side, together we can rule this world.”

            I hadn’t expected that answer and as he took one step forward, I took one back. “Are you afraid of me, Serena?” he asks me with a grin. He continued to step towards me and I continued to step back

            “Afraid of you? No.” I answer with a light laugh. “No, it should be you afraid of me.”

            I extend my wings once more and allowed my eyes and claws to extend as well.

            “Captain, fall now.” I shout, taking Loki by surprise.

            Steve drops from the sky and blocks Loki from me. I hide away my wings and start to usher everyone out of the scene.

            “The soldier.” Loki states. “A man out of time.”

            “I'm not the one who's out of time.” Steve states as Natasha reveals the quinjet with a machine gun pointing at Loki.

            “ _Loki, drop the weapon and stand down._ ”

            Immediately, Loki directs a blast towards the quinjet in which Natasha was quickly able to avoid it. Steve engages into a fight with Loki, throwing his shield to startle him. I turn away from them and quickly begin to direct everyone away from the fight and into safe areas nearby. As I sung quietly to them, only singing for their ears only, my wing was healing slowly.

            Once everyone was out of the way did I turn back to help Steve. I started to make my way towards him when a Loki clone blocked me. I was quickly able to make the magic clone disappear but more kept on appearing.

            “Nat, Loki is all over the place.” I tell her. “I can’t seem to stop fighting his magic clones.”

            Before Natasha could respond, my earpiece is blasted with music. I wince at it, causing the Loki apparition to get a hit on me. I quickly rolled out of the floor and swung a kick to the apparition causing it to fade away.

            _“Serena, did you miss me?_ ” I hear Tony ask through my earpiece.

            “There’s this human saying I was taught on my time here,” I answer as I see his suit fly over me. “If you having nothing nice to say, then don’t saying nothing at all.”

            “ _Ouch_ , _that wounds me my prettiest Siren.”_

“Not as much as that music you blasted in my earpiece.” I answer.

            Tony’s suit blasts at Loki causing him to be thrown to the ground with a harsh force. Tony quickly lands and pulls out every piece of weaponry in his suit and points it directly at Loki.

            “Make your move, Reindeer Games.”

            Loki sits up and puts his hands up in surrender. All of the hard armor he was wearing before materializes away.

            “Good move,” Tony states.

            Steve grabs his shield and walks up to Tony.

            “Mr. Stark.” He says seriously.

            “Captain.” Tony replies in the same way.

            I didn’t understand their hostility with each other but I walk past them and pulled out the heavily steeled handcuffs for Loki.

            “Why do you get to do the honors?” Tony whines. “I caught the guy.”

            “Your bloody music made me get the air hit out of my lungs.” I tell him as I roughly pulled Loki up and placed the handcuffs on him.

            “We haven’t seen each other in months, I pay for your apartments and your shopping sprees, and this is how you talk to me?”

            “Shouldn’t you two wait to talk in private?” Steve asks us seriously as we walk up to the landed quinjet.

            “I doubt our lover’s spat is important.” Tony states.

            “Lover’s spat?” I ask him with a laugh. “You are very delusional. I think that metal suit of yours is overheating and messing with your brain.”

            The back ramp is opened and we all get in. Tony quickly pulls off his Iron Man helmet off and puts it away. Steve does the same and they both stay suited. I walk over to Natasha and take notice of the dark clouds ahead.

            _“Said anything?”_ Director Fury asks over our earpieces.

            “Not a word.” Natasha answers.

            “ _Just get him here. We're low on time.”_

I pull out my earpiece after that and throw it aside. I stand up from the co-pilot seat and stand by Tony and Steve. They were both watching a restrained seated Loki who was silent and staring straight ahead.

            “I don't like it.” Steve tells us.

            “What?” Tony asks confused before glancing at Loki. “Rock of Ages giving up so easily?”

            “I don't remember it being ever that easy.” Steve replies. “This guy packs a wallop.”

            “I agree,” I tell him remembering my injured wing. “It’s not like him to be this way.”

            “And you know the guy how?” Tony asks turning to me.

            “Norse mythology,” I answer. “I researched other realms when I stayed with you, remember? I’ve read the stories on Loki. He’s not so easily defeated.”

            “And you’re going to believe on some fairy tales?” Tony asks me.

            “They haven’t been wrong about me, have they?” I ask him in return. I leave Tony and Steve behind and decide to sit right across from Loki. He looked at me with interest and sat back on his seat. I studied his features, his clothing, and I finally met his stare. Something was itching in my mind and without the guidance of Heimdall; I was left on my own to deal with it.

            “You’ve got a lot of questions,” Loki states all of a sudden.

            “How did you know?” I ask him surprised.

            “You’ve always been easy to read, Serena.” Loki answers with a charming smile. “Well at least to me, you are.”

            “I’m not the same person you once knew.” I tell him.

            “Still doesn’t change anything between us.”

            “There is no us.”

            Thunder rumbles the quinjet and I see lighting almost striking us. The dark clouds I had seen before seemed to grow darker and more dangerous. Natasha looks back at me in concern.

            “Serena, mind toning the storm down a bit.”

            “This isn’t my doing,” I tell her.

            “Then where is this coming from?” Natasha asks concerned. I turn towards the window as thunder roars outside.

            “What's the matter?” Steve asks as he looks at Loki. “Scared of a little lightning?”

            “I'm not overly fond of what follows.” Loki replies.

            “What is that supposed to mean?” Tony exclaims at him.

            I stand up from my seat and quickly walk up towards the co-pilot seat. I studied the clouds again and felt my silver eyes glowing. I took a deep breath as I recognized the magic behind the storm. There was only one other person who could do this and who wasn’t from this world as well.

            “Thor.” I state. “He’s here.”


	15. Chapter 15

**“Thor.” I state. “He’s here.”**

Lightning strikes the quinjet and everyone stumbles, losing their balance. It all happened in a matter of seconds, Tony suited up right as the back ramp opened. Thor lands and Tony immediately stands between him and Loki. With one punch, Tony is sent crashing against me, and Thor takes off with Loki. The thunder was still storming around us and we all tried to process what just happened. Tony was seething, Steve was trying to be logical, and Nat was just trying to keep the jet up in the air.

            “You know that alien douche?” Tony exclaims angrily beside me.

            “Yeah, Clint and I met this guy in New Mexico.” I answer.

            “Think the guy's a friendly?” Steve asks me.

            “Of course he is,” I respond. “Thor’s a friend and he’s from my home. I’m sure he’s here to help.”

            “Doesn't matter.” Tony states walking out towards the still open ramp. “If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost.”

            “Stark we need a plan of attack!” Steve shouts beside me.

            “I have a plan,” Tony tells him. “Attack.”

            Tony then flies out of the quinjet leaving the rest of us behind.

            “I’ve got to get down there,” I tell them as I extend my wings. “They could be killing each other for all I know.”

            I could hear Steve exclaim behind me to wait but we couldn’t afford to lose more time on this matter. Whether Thor had Loki or Tony had Loki, I knew that someone would have to work as a buffer for either of them and the most likeable person between them two would be me. I allowed myself to plummet through the sky before letting my wings out to slow down my descent.

            Conflict was the first thing I saw as the storm clouds cleared up my view. Tony and Thor seemed to be in an argument that was building up to a fight. I would have intervened if it weren’t for the abandoned Loki who was standing on a nearby cliff watching it all. I make my way towards him and land gracefully on my feet. I pull my wings back and watch Loki take a seat.

            “Enjoying the view?” I ask him sarcastically. Loki seems surprised at my sudden appearance but relaxes himself.

            “Yes, I am actually.” Loki replies. “Care to join me?”

            “I care more about bringing you back to the jet.”

            Loki chuckles at that and shakes his head.

            “Well we won’t be heading there any time soon,” Loki answers. “Thor and the man of metal are fighting for my custody.”

            “Then it seems they’ve both lost,” I state walking to stand beside him. “Your custody lays with me now, so get up.”

            “Always enjoyed being in control,” Loki mutters as he rises from his seat. “Something I love about you.”

            I narrow my eyes at him as he watches me closely. He seemed amused with my confusion and I was growing annoyed of the way he spoke to me, as we were familiars.

            “It kills you doesn’t it.” Loki says stepping towards me. “It kills you that I know more about you than you know about yourself.”

            “The myths are right,” I remark walking away from him and towards the ledge. “You’re silver tongue attempts to use clever words in order to escape me but I’m wise to ignore your taunts.”

            “My dear Serena,” Loki chuckles out. “You and I both know the truth of those childish stories.”

            “Once again, you come to me with lies, attempting to make me believe you by using my own forgotten past to your advantage.” I accuse as I turn away from him. “I don’t believe your words for one second. I never will.”

            All of a sudden, Loki grabs my arm and forces me to face him. His face held a desperate rage as he looked down at me.

            “You know, you know deep down in your bones that I have never and will never lie to you.” Loki grits out. “I vowed that to you as you vowed yourself to me. Do you understand?”

            I was frightened by the iron grip on my arms and his serious gaze. Liar or not, he seemed to be telling the truth. He seemed to be desperate for me to believe his words. I couldn’t understand why he had this need for me to believe him but he did. Seeing this desperate side of him caused me to soften up my scorned expression with one of confusion and this seems to relax him.

            “My beautiful Serena,” Loki says in a bare whisper as he reaches to stroke my cheek. “Oh how I missed you.”

            I pull myself away from him, trying to forget the lingering feeling of his touch, and focus on the fight ahead of me that has seemed to grow more brutal. My dazed mind needed some clarity from Loki’s overall presence. Something about his touches and voice and overall being made my mind hurt and I knew it couldn’t be for a good reason.

            I could sense that Loki was trying to gather his own wits as he took a deep breath and made his way beside me. His posture was cool and collected as if he hadn’t shown vulnerability a second ago. God of Lies seemed to fit him as he managed to mask away what he really felt inside.

            “They’re making a big mess,” I mutter concerned to myself as I take in account the fallen tress and gapping holes in the forest. “I hope none of them gets gravely hurt.”

            “And by none of them, you mean the man of metal.” Loki comments side glancing at me. “You care about him.”

            “Of course I do,” I answer. “He’s my friend.”

            “Didn’t seem like a friend to you,” Loki states. “He’s bestowed many gifts and…”

            “I came to this world with no value to my name,” I say tilting my head up to Loki. “My mind is still scattered with nonsense and it seems that I keep gaining unwanted abilities. Tony helped me get situated. He’s given me a home, money, and bestowed other gifts to me. I’m very thankful for his help.”

            “Men don’t give valuable things to women without expecting something in return.” Loki remarks at me. “He’s expecting something from you.”

            I couldn’t help but be appalled by Loki’s insinuation.

            “You think because you once knew me that you know who and what is best for me?” I exclaim at him. “You don’t know what’s happened to me here. You don’t get to come here and start acting like you know what’s best for me. I know what’s best for me.”

Loki looked down at me stunned by my harsh tone and remains speechless. I tear myself away from him and return my focus on the fight below.

            “My life is my own now,” I tell him. “No one but myself dictates it.”

            “Very well then,” Loki finally responds turning away from me and towards the fight below. “Just remember that you have the choice to stand by my side. Rule earth with me, be their Queen.”

            “The answer is still no.” I tell Loki as I turn my focus to the fight below. Steve had made his way into the clearing and was trying to stop Thor and Tony from going at each other. It almost seemed like he had it under control until Thor knocked Tony out of the way with mjolnir and then went after Steve. Steve’s shield was able to block mjolnir’s power but caused about a mile radius of trees to be knocked down.

“I think they’re done,” I state seeing all of them stand together without verbal banter or physical attacks to one another. I look up at the cleared sky and put my hand to my earpiece. “Nat, it’s safe to bring down the jet. I’ve got the prisoner.”

~~_______________~~

After taking a well deserved shower and changing out of my suit, I made my way towards Bruce’s lab. He seemed relieved to see me and I could tell that he had been worried about the sudden mission. I gave him a short summary of what happened and avoided telling him about my lone encounter with Loki on the cliff.

It wasn’t that we spoke about something personal that I didn’t want anyone else to know but it was more of what I seemed to learn from that conversation. The familiarity of Loki and his request to stand by his side caused my mind to itch and hurt as if it wanted me to remember something but I just couldn’t. I played with the emerald ring that was hanging from a necklace finding ease in it.

“You seem a little out of it.” Bruce states as he looks up from his chart. “Should I be worried?”

“No, not at all,” I answer quickly dropping my hand from the ring. “It’s just this mild headache that I’ve been enduring for the past hour.”

“You told me you didn’t get hit on the head,” Bruce says putting down the chart and walking over to where I was seated. He starts to look over me and I remember his experience in medicine.

“I only got a hit on my stomach which knocked the air out of me.” I tell him as he looks over my eyes and face. “The headache probably has to do with stress.”

I smile at him as I grab Bruce’s extended hand and give him a gentle squeeze.

“It’s nice to know you care Dr. Banner.” I say teasingly. “But I’m ok.”

Bruce seems to blush and pulls away from me, fumbling in his pockets before giving up and turning to me sheepishly.

“I’ve got some aspirin in my bag. It should help reduce the pain.” Bruce states. He was about to go on a search for his bag when we both stop in our tracks. Walking outside the lab were a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D agents escorting a grinning Loki. He eyes us both but his stare lingered on Bruce. Once he was gone, I let out a sigh of relief and turn to Bruce in concern as I notice his pained expression.

“Are you alright?” I ask him as I stand from my seat and walk towards him.

“Just a sudden headache,” he answers before shaking out of it. “But I’m fine now.”

I decide not to argue with him knowing that in doing so it could end with him turning green and myself having to control him. I let the matter go and the headache that I once had seemed to disappear. Bruce and I had no time to do some research on Loki’s scepter as we were all called into the conference room to see Loki’s imprisonment.

Bruce and I seemed to be the last one’s to arrive but no one seemed upset about that fact. I take a seat around the table while Bruce remains standing and we all turn our attention to the video surveillance that now showed Loki being locked in a glass cell. Director Fury was with him only to warn him of the dangers if he dared to escape.

 _“_ _In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass.”_ Directory Fury presses a button on the control panel and I could distantly hear the harsh winds below. _“Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?”_          

Director Fury closes the hatch and turns towards Loki.

“ _Ant_.” He says pointing at Loki before turning to the control panel. “ _Boot._ ”

“ _It's an impressive cage.”_ Loki says grinning like a mad man. “ _Not built, I think, for me._ ”

“ _Built for something a lot stronger than you.”_

“ _Oh, I've heard.”_ Loki states looking directly into the surveillance camera. An unwanted shiver runs down my spine and I could feel my headache returning in a stronger sense. I look up at Bruce in concern but he seemed to be used to that kind of commentary.

 _“_ _The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man.”_ Loki taunts. _“Fooling himself in believing that the beautiful creature before him would actually play along in his mortal fantasy._ ”

Everyone’s stare lands on me and Bruce and I find myself feeling nervous with the newfound attention. I look up at Bruce, trying to find the words to deny Loki’s accusation but it seemed that Bruce has once again brushed Loki’s taunts away.

 **_“_** _How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?”_ Loki asks Director Fury with a taunting smirk. _“Poor Serena doesn’t know better than to stand with you.”_

 _“Serena’s decisions aren’t manipulations if that’s what you think.”_ Director Fury argues. _“And you dare ask me how desperate am I?_ _You threaten my world with war._ _You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill `cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”_

The sudden change of tone in the conversation made me uneasy of it all and I look away from the screen momentarily. It was easy to tell the concern in everyone. It was written all over their faces.

 _“_ _Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power… unlimited power.”_ Loki continues to taunt. “ _And for what?”_ Loki asks. “ _A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is.”_

 _“_ _Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something._ ” Fury states, having the last word as he turns to walk away. Loki’s focus turns back to camera and once again his smirk is shown for all of us to see. The monitor then turns dark and the conference room is filled with eerie silence.

“He really grows on you, doesn't he?” Bruce asks sarcastically.

“Loki's gonna drag this out.” Steve states. “So, Thor, what's his play?” 

“He has an army called the Chitauri.” Thor begins to explain. “They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”

            “An army?” Steve asks surprised. “From outer space?”

            “So he's building another portal.” Bruce points out.

            “That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.” I say understanding that kidnapping.

            “Selvig?” Thor asks concerned.

            “He's an astrophysicist.” Bruce explains.

            “He's a friend.” Thor states and I nod in understanding.

            “Loki has him under some kind of spell,” Natasha explains to him. “Along with one of ours.”

            “I wanna know why Loki let us take him.” Steve states. “He's not leading an army from here.”

            “You’ll have to ask Serena on that matter,” Thor replies causing me to sit up in alarm from the response. I drop the ring that I was once again playing with as everyone’s attention turned to me.

            “How so?” I ask. “What would I know about Loki?”

            “I don't think we should be focusing on Loki.” Bruce states relieving me of the sudden attention. “That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.”

            “Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.”

            Thor’s response caused me to become more aware of the sudden pieces and fragments that were coming together in the hard puzzle of my broken mind.

            “He killed eighty people in two days.” Natasha says looking up at Thor annoyed.

            “He's adopted.”

            My head was aching again as I felt my mind search for the memories that would make sense in all this madness. I rubbed my temple and tried to ignore the headache.

            “I think it’s about the mechanics.” Bruce states changing the subject. “Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?”.

            “It's a stabilizing agent.” Tony answers walking into the room accompanied by Coulson. “Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.”

            Tony then being his usual playful self heads towards the control panel beside the conference room and starts to direct the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents working below. Once he’s had his fill on that he returns to his explanation.

            “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”

            “When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Agent Hill asks Tony.

            “Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers.” Tony lists off before turning to the rest of us and taking notice of our confused expressions. “Am I the only one who did the reading?”

            “Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” I ask him ignoring his joke.

            “He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.” Bruce answers.

            “Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect.” Tony pipes in.

            “Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet.” Bruce states.

            “Finally, someone who speaks English.” Tony exclaims causing everyone around the table to look up in confusion.

            “Is that what just happened?” Steve asks in which Nat and I shake our head in response.

            I look up to see Tony and Bruce shaking hands, both sharing the love of science and respecting each other’s large expanse of knowledge.

            “It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner.” Tony states. “You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

            That seemed to break the mutual mood and Bruce tries to hide the scowl from settling on his face.

            “Thanks.”

            “Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube.” Director Fury states as he walks into the conference room and looking at Tony. “I was hoping you might join him.”

            “Let's start with that stick of his.” Steve tells them. “It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”

            “I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube.” Director agrees. “And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

            “Monkeys?” Thor asks confused. “I do not understand.”

            “I do!” Steve exclaims causing all of us to look at him. “I understood that reference.”

            “Shall we play, doctor?” Tony asks turning to Bruce.

            “This way, sir.” Bruce answers nodding at him. He then turns to me in question. “Care to assist us Serena?”

            “If Director Fury doesn’t have any pressing matters that I need to take care of?” I ask glancing up at him. He was wearing his usual blank scowl and I was unsure of what his answer could be.

            “What you do in your spare time is of your own concern.” Fury states. “I’ll call on you when I need you.”

            I nod at that before rising from my seat and following after Tony and Bruce. Tony as usual acted his casual self. He placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards him.

            “So how you’ve been Serena? You’ve been good?” He asks. “And how did you meet Dr. Banner here? And how come you’re our new assistant? When did that happen?”

            I couldn’t help but shake my head as Tony continued with his questions, not allowing me to respond to any of them. I turn to Bruce as I tried to suppress my smile.

            “I think I’m going to need that aspirin you offered me before.”


	16. Chapter 16

Bruce quickly gave me a list to do as he prepared Loki’s scepter to be used to track the tesseract. Tony also gave me a list but his was more of a joke that got a very defensive Bruce to shoot him down for. As I started to prepare the detection scanner, placing it to read gamma radiation, did my headache slowly start to return. I pushed through it though and handed Bruce the scanner.

 **“** The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract.” Bruce states as he looks at the monitor that showed the scan results. “But it's gonna take weeks to process.”

“Even through SHIELD’s technology?” I ask still unsure if that made a difference or not.

“If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops.” Tony states causing Bruce to chuckle. I assumed it was a science joke and didn’t even attempt to comprehend it.

“All I packed was a tooth brush.” Bruce jokes.

“You know, you should come by Stark tower sometime.” Tony says walking up to Bruce. “Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land.”

“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem.”

“Last time I was in New Mexico, I wiped out half a city.” I state glancing up at Bruce. “That doesn’t stop me from visiting though.”  

“She’s right, Bruce.” Tony agrees. “And I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises…” Tony then pokes Bruce on the side with a small electrical prod.

“Ow,” he comments startled by the pain.

“Tony…” I say in a warning tone in which he just rolls his eyes at. He looks back at Bruce curiously.

“Nothing?” he asks.

“Hey!” Steve exclaims, having seen the whole thing. “Are you nuts?”

“Jury’s out.” Tony states and I tilt my head confused at that.

“Is that another reference thingy…?” I begin to ask in which Tony patronizingly nods at me before turning back to Bruce.

“You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?” Tony asks him. “What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve exclaims.

“Funny things are.” Tony answers.

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny.” Steve argues. “No offense, doctor.”

“No, it's alright.” Bruce states. “I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things. Besides, Serena says she can keep me under control if the other guy decides to make an appearance, so all’s good here.”

“Did you hear that?” Tony sarcastically asks towards Steve. “All’s good here.”

“Tony, please…” I start to say but Steve interrupts me.

“I don’t understand how Natasha even trusted you to keep Serena safe if this is what you’re always up to, unleashing things that can’t be controlled.”

“Wait, you two…?” Bruce starts to ask but is interrupted by Tony.

“I did a good job keeping her safe, didn’t I?” Tony argues back. “I even pushed her to learn how to fly so you’re welcome, soldier.”

“Can we please not do this right now?” I ask them, snapping both of their attentions to me. “I would rather not use my powers to get you two to play along.”

“Look, you just got Serena all riled up.” Tony mutters before turning back to Bruce. I shake my head at both of them and start to report the scanning records and filing them away for future use.

“You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.” Steve states.

“You think I'm not?” Tony asks him. “Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.”

I stop working as I hear Tony question Director Fury’s motives. The guy did have strange ways of enforcing protection and testing people. He also had a way with secrets and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was holding stuff from us.

“You think Fury's hiding something?” Steve asks him.

“He's a spy. Captain, he's _the_ spy.” Tony answers. “His secrets have secrets.” Tony then points to me. “Don’t forget what he did to Serena, here. Kept her in one of my facilities in order to examine her and see her true motive.”

Steve glance over at me apologetically but I really didn’t mind. The tests helped me understand myself and it made me aware of SHIELD’s intentions.

“It's bugging him too, isn't it?” Tony asks pointing at a working Bruce who was very uncomfortable at the sudden spotlight.

“Uh...I just want to finish my work here and...” Bruce starts to say before being interrupted by Steve.

“Doctor?”

Bruce pauses and sighs, setting down his stats.

“ _A warm light for all mankind_ ,” he states. “Loki's jab at Fury about the cube.”

“I heard it.” Steve comments.

“Well, I think that was meant for you.” Bruce says pointing at Tony. “Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news.“

“The Stark Tower?” Steve asks confused. “That big ugly **…”** Steve trails off, earing a glare from Tony, before continuing. “...building in New York?”

“It's powered by an arc reactors, self-sustaining energy source.” Bruce explains. “That building will run itself for what, a year?”

“That's just the prototype.” Tony answers. “I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That’s what he’s getting at”

“So, why didn't SHIELD. bring him in on the Tesseract project?” Bruce asks referring to Tony’s new success. “I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files.” Tony answers.

“I'm sorry, did you say...?” I begin to ask. “Did you just hack SHIELD’S overall database?

Tony nods at that and pulls a small tablet and looks over it.

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the conference room.” Tony states. “In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD. has ever tried to hide. Including yours, Serena.”

I pause as I hear this.

“Why would I want to…?” I begin to ask him before stopping. “That document.”

“What document?” Bruce asks.

“There’s a document with ancient scriptures on it.” I tell him. “Fury told me they translated it but now that I think of it, the writing was too old for them to translate. I haven’t seen my file ever since I started to work for SHIELD. If I can see it again, read that document on my own, it might settle my mind about my evolution.”

“So you won’t tattle on us, little Siren?” Tony asks me seriously.

“If you get me my file, I won’t.” I answer.

“Good,” Tony states holding up a bag he’s been eating from. “Blueberry?” 

“No thank you,” I answer going back to my tablet and continued to work.

“Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?” Steve states annoyed by Tony’s behavior.

“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?” Tony asks him. “Historically, not awesome.”

“I think Loki's trying to wind us up.” Steve states. “This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.”

“Following’s not really my style.” Tony states popping in some more blueberries into his mouth.

“And you're all about style, aren't you?” Steve asks annoyed.

“Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?” Tony asks annoyed as well.

“ **S** teve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?” Bruce asks him trying to settle the rising tension in the room.

Steve seems to hesitate at the question but remains collected.

“Just find the cube.” He states before leaving the room. Tony just shakes his head annoyed by him before returning to his work.

“That's the guy my dad never shut up about?” he exclaims in his corner. “Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice.”

“Steve is a great guy, Tony.” I argue on his behalf. “Besides, he’s out of his time in the world he belongs to. All he knows is the organization that his once beloved has created. I understand why he doesn’t see it the way we see it.”

“You know him very well, don’t you?” Bruce asks me.

“They studied together.” Tony states. “He was also the one who ratted you out.”

“He didn’t mean to,” I answer. “He didn’t know what they would do to me.”

“Can you for one second stop defending the guy?” Tony exclaims.

“If someone was badmouthing one of my friends, I would stand up for them, whatever the cause.” I answer. “By Norn’s sake, I’ve defended you countless times whenever Pepper complained about your behavior.”

That seemed to shut Tony up and my headache was returning much more strongly this time. I set the tablet on the table and massage my forehead momentarily.

“Steve's not wrong about Loki.” Bruce states returning to the earlier subject. “He does have the jump on us.”

“What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit.” Tony states. “It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does.”

“And I'll read all about it.” Bruce replies.

“Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us.” Tony offers up. 

**“** Ah, you see. I don't get a suit of armor.” Bruce responds to that. “I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare. “

“You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart.” Tony states pointing to the arc reactor in his chest. “This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege.”

“But you can control it.” Bruce argues.

“Because I learned how.”

“It's different.” Bruce says returning his focus to the monitor. I slide my fingers across the screen, minimizing the data, forcing Bruce to look at me.

“I’m always afraid of what will happen to me every time I wake up in the morning.” I tell Bruce. “I’m afraid that one of these days, I will wake up not being who I was before. I’m afraid that my memories will come crashing down on me, with no warning, just to show my past self to be a destructive creature. I’m afraid that when I step out of my room, or go into a new mission, that I will come back with more attributes to the Siren, quickly evolving to the monster Fury is so afraid of unleashing.”

The whole lab became silent as my voice slightly echoed.

“Falling from the sky at whatever altitude… I believe my wings saved me.” I answer as I tentatively touched the smooth skin on the top of my back. “A blessing in a curse.”

I look back up at Bruce who was staring at me with a slightly surprised expression.

“I've read all about your accident, Bruce.” I tell him. “I might not be well acquainted with the science aspect of it but I do know that that much gamma exposure should have           killed you.”

“So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?” Bruce asks me causing me to nod slightly. Bruce turns away from me with a shake of his head. “That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”

“I guess we'll find out.” I whisper as I return his data back onto the screen in front of him. I walk away from his monitor and place the tablet on a nearby work table.

“You might not like that.” Bruce states.

“And you just might.” I tell him as I passed by him and headed towards the lab doors. “Tell me once you’ve gotten access to the files.”

“And where do you think you’re going missy?” Tony asks.

“I’ve just remembered that I’ve got to reunite with an old friend of mine…” I answer as I left the lab. “…and to find out more about what I left behind.”

  ~~_______________~~

I make my way back to the briefing room. Everyone was working diligently especially with Loki on board. I could see that they were still on hight alert for Dr. Selvig and Clint. I could only hope that we would find them soon and be able to break the spell that Loki had them under.

It took me a while to locate Thor. I luckily found him beside a computer monitor with Phil showing him something on the screen. I see Jane’s face on the monitor and assumed Phil was reassuring Thor of Jane’s safety.

“…Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe.” I catch Phil telling Thor.

“Thank you. It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig.” Thor states. “I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man.”

“He talks about you a lot.” I state, catching Phil and Thor’s attention. “You changed his life. You changed everything around here, even gave me some hope.”

“Serena,” Thor greets me with a small smile. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“And I’ve been meaning to speak to you,” I sigh out. I could see it in his eyes, that he was searching for some sort of recognition, some hint that I remembered whatever memories I had lost, but sadly I had not. All I had was a terrible headache that didn’t seem to go away.

“How are you feeling Lady Serena?” he asks me.

“With everything that’s going on, I believe the stress is just causing my head to ache a bit, but other than that I’m fine.” I answer honestly. 

“You need to rest,” Phil states concerned.

“There is no rest for the wicked,” I respond with a small smile. “I assure you, I’m fine.”

“If you say so,” Thor says looking concerned at me as well.

“How are things in Asgard?” I ask him. “Heimdall, is he…?”

“Heimdall is well, sister.” Thor states. “He told me to assure he was in good health.”

“Good,” I sigh out. “I got worried when I didn’t hear from him again. Jane has… well, I was told that the passageway from Earth to Asgard had disappeared. I feared…”

“Once we find the tesseract, I’ll make sure to take Loki and you back home.” Thor assures me.

“Home…” I repeat a bit relieved. “Earth’s been home for a while now, but Asgard…”

“Yes, Asgard.” Thor states sharing the same sentiment before his expression turns cold. “We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we...we come here battling like bilchsteim.”

“Like what?” Phil asks confused.

“Bilchsteim?” Thor repeats. “You know; huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?”

“Don't think so.” Phil states.

“I would say the closest Midgard has to a bilchsteim is what you call a bull,” I tell Phil. “But in Asgard, they’re big and giant and are very hairy and attack everything that moves.”

“They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path.” Thor continues with the explanation. He looks up at me with the first happy smile I’ve seen on him since his arrival. “Are you remembering, Serena?”

“I…uh…” I mumble out unsure of how to answer. It seemed that my memory was coming and going as it pleased. My knowledge of Asgard mindlessly slipping into my tongue without my knowing. “I don’t…”

Thor doesn’t wait for a complete answer, seemingly happy that my memory was improving. The headache was gone for now it seemed. I let myself celebrate on that fact as I watched Thor move to face one of the windows on the helicarrier.

“Thor,” I call out to him. He glances at me, acknowledging that he was listening, before turning back to the window. “I need you tell me more about myself and Asgard. I need you to explain to me why…”

Thor doesn’t allow me to finish my question as he sighed heavily. He turns to Phil with a serious expression.

“If you don’t mind,” he tells him. “This tale is better if I just told Serena. There’s some private matters…”

“Understood,” Phil says nodding at him before looking up at me in concern. “I’ll be with Director Fury, if you need me.”

“Thank you,” I whisper as he walked past me and left us alone. I made my way to Thor’s side and watched the night sky by his side.

“You were gone,” he starts off me. “We were told that you had died. The reason being treason against my father. We never knew the true reason for it. My father refused to divulge in the details. But even through the seriousness of your death, we all mourned, we were all impacted by your sudden death, but Loki, he was impacted the most…”

Thor pauses as he glances at me with a sorrowed expression.

“Loki wasn’t shielded by the next wave of news that came to him.” Thor states. “You weren’t there to help him through it.”

“Through what?” I ask genuinely concerned, my hand reaching to play with the ring on the silver chain.

“My father had deigned me heir to the throne.” Thor answers. I sigh quietly as I hear this, feeling a familiar sense of dread to this. “Loki and I were both told that we were meant to be kings. My father announcing me as his true heir, well…”

“It caused Loki to return to the darkness of your shadow.” I answer. Thor turns to me in defense. “I’m sorry… I mean…what happened? What did he do?”

“It was a week later that my coronation was set to happen. My father was ready to set the crown on my head when frost giants stormed into our treasury and attempted to steal an old relic.”

“Please don’t tell me that…”

“Loki, I was later on told was the culprit.” Thor states. “Though I believe his intentions were only to stop the coronation. I take full blame to what happened next.”

“Which was?” I ask him.

“The reason I was banished.” Thor states. “After having my coronation ruined, I was quick to think of going to war. I was young and ignorant of the consequences. One decision led to another bad decision and I was banished.”

“And you came here.” I state. “Banished the same way I was, because you went against your king... your father.”

“Treason,” Thor responds with a slight shake of his head. “When I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and the people here paid the price, and now again.” Thor’s voice grew heavy, his shoulders dropping. “In my youth I courted war…”

“War hasn't started yet.” Director Fury interrupts as he walks into our conversation. “I’m sorry to interrupt but there’s urgent matters pressing.”

Thor and I nod respectfully up to him, though I still had many questions to ask Thor about my past life in Asgard. Director Fury’s expression didn’t give anything away as he looked down at us.

“Thor, do you think you can make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?”

“I do not know.” Thor answers. “Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance, upon me. There's no pain that would prise his need from him.”

“A lot of guys think that,” Fury states. “Until the pain starts.”

“What are you asking me to do?” Thor asks him.

“I'm asking… what are you prepared to do?”

“Loki is a prisoner.” Thor answers.

“Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?” Fury asks concerned.

Thor doesn’t answer and turns away from the conversation. Director Fury’s attention then lands on me.

“Get ready Agent Serena,” he states standing tall and starting to walk off the platform. “You’ll be interviewing the prisoner in ten minutes.”

“I wouldn’t advise that…” Thor starts to argue but Fury was gone. I turn to Thor, shocked by the task given to me and by his response.

“Should I be…?” I begin to ask him, before stopping myself and turning to Thor with a determined expression. “Who was I to Loki in Asgard?”

“You do not remember?” Thor asks me surprised. “I assumed you recognized him due to the…”

“Thor,” I call out to him. “Who was I to Loki that caused my death to be so impacting to him? Why does he search for me? Why does he…” I pause and drop the question as it turns into a known statement. “He knows me too well, Thor. Why?”

“Because he loves you,” Thor answers, his expression softening. “Serena, you were meant to be his wife.”


	17. Chapter 17

_We were told that you had died..._

_We all mourned…_

_We were all impacted by your sudden death_ _…_

_But Loki, he was impacted the most._

_Because he loves you_ _…  
_

_Serena, you were meant to be his wife.  
_

_Meant to be his wife…  
_

_Wife…_

My attention was snapped to the present as I saw Natasha snapping her fingers in front of my face. Though she usually hid her emotions from everyone, Natasha was clearly showing her concern for me all over her face as she finished braiding my hair.

            “You know, you don’t have to do this.” Natasha states as I look at myself in the mirror. “I can always convince Fury to send me in.”

            “It’s fine, I can do it.” I assure her as I fix my uniform and avoid her stare. “I just… why me?”

            Natasha sighs at this before sitting down on my vanity, facing me directly.

            “Besides Thor, you’re the only one Loki has talked to.” Natasha explains to me. “Fury also sent you in because I told him of your conversation with Loki at the cliff. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but…”

            “I’m not surprised you heard.” I whisper. “We weren’t really trying to hide…”

            “He asked you to be his Queen and he told you he could never lie to you.”

            “Loki was probably lying when he said that.” I argued.

            “No, no he wasn’t.” Natasha states, crossing her arms. “That man, whoever the hell he is, has some fascination with you. I think it’s a risk sending you in. For all we know, you could have been his accomplice back at Asgard but Fury wants you in, so you’re going in.”

            “I doubt Thor would let me talk to him if it risked everyone’s safety.” I tell her.

            “Well he didn’t look to happy about the decision either,” Natasha replies narrowing her eyes down at me. “You would tell me if something was up, right? You trust me?”

            “I trust you with my life,” I tell her, feeling slightly nervous to the secret I was keeping to myself. You were meant to be his wife. I shake Thor’s voice out of my head and smile up at Natasha. “I should probably get this interrogation over with. I can sense it’s giving everyone some sort of anxiety.”

            I walk out of my room and Natasha quickly follows after me. We make it down the hall before Natasha drops me off at the elevator and I ride down alone to the prisoner level. Director Fury and Phil were waiting for me out on the hall and I simply greeted them with a nod.

            “Director,” I state. “Phil.”

            “Natasha briefed you in what you had to do.” Director Fury states more than asks.

            “Every detail, sir.” I answer. “I’m ready.”

            Director Fury narrows his eye at me before scanning a card and his fingerprint. The door slides open and I walk through it. The door slides closed behind me and the room is filled with silence. I make my way down the hall as quietly as I can and find myself face to face with Loki’s cell. Loki wasn’t facing me, instead his back was to me, and he had yet to take notice of my presence.

            I look around the room and take in account the three cameras outside the cell and the two that were inside his cell. I look into each of them before looking back down at Loki who was still oblivious of me. Knowing my instructions, I start to hum out a melody before letting the words pass my lips.

           

             _Come as you are_

_As you were_

_As I want you to be_

_As a friend_

_As a friend_

_As an old enemy_

 

            I could see that Loki had stilled and could only assume it was because he had finally fallen into trance with my song, unlike the first time I tried to control him.

           

_Take your time_

_Hurry up_

_The choice is yours_

_Don’t be late._

_Take a rest_

_As a friend_

_As an old memory…_

 

I was ready to continue the song, in order to have him confess whatever plan he had now but his low chuckle interrupted me. Loki slowly turns around to face me with a small grin on his mouth. His eyes were as lively as before and he looked at me with fascination.

            “Oh dear Serena, trying to sing me to sleep again?” Loki asks me with a dark chuckle. “I will admit that I didn’t notice you sneak in. That did catch me by surprise but I expected it.”

            “You assumed I would come?” I ask him as I step closer to the cell wall.

            Loki didn’t respond as he looked at the cameras in his cell.

            “You don’t have to worry about them listening to us,” I tell him. “They mute out the noise because of what my singing can do even through their advanced technology. They can’t hear what we’re saying.”

            That seemed to reassure Loki as he glanced down back at me.

            “I assume this is either Director Fury’s ploy or Thor’s,” Loki states. “They would send you in and I would so easily cooperate.”

            “I personally knew that wouldn’t work,” I state finding courage within me still. My statement seemed to amuse Loki so I continued. “You’re too clever to fall for a pretty face. You’re probably one of those men who believe love is a weakness.”

            “Yes, I am.” Loki replies.

            “That’s what I thought,” I remark, ready to leave the room.

            “Allow me to explain myself, Serena.” Loki states gaining my attention. “I am too smart to fall for a woman’s feminine charms and I also believe love is a weakness but you… you are the exception.”

            I hadn’t expected him to come up with that response and I quickly lose the courage I was clinging to so desperately.

            “I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton.”

            Loki just chuckles at how I so obviously tried to change the subject.

            “You’re so afraid of what I have to tell you, aren’t you?” Loki asks. “You know what we are.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

            “Of course you do,” Loki replies with a grin. “The idiotic Thor told you, didn’t he? That we were to be…”

            “I don’t remember you or your brother or Asgard or the reason for my banishment.” I argue with him. “I don’t remember us getting engaged to wed. I don’t remember meeting you or falling for you or anything that concerns you. Whatever we were, doesn’t exist.”

            “You think a royal engagement is that easy to break?” Loki asks amused. “We had to beg Odin to allow us to be engaged. With you alive, that engagement is still on. Until the All-Father deigns it otherwise. Whether you remember or not, I am to be your husband as you are to be my wife.”

            “That’s not true,” I whisper in shock.

            “Like I told you before, I would never lie to you.” Loki states as he sits down on the floor and proceeds to lay down. “You can ask my brother to confirm it after we’re done here.”

            I didn’t know what to say. My head was aching with the new flood of news and I could barely keep myself standing if it wasn’t for the metal bar beside me. I clung onto it with everything I had as I willed myself to relax.

            “You asked me about your friend who shoots arrows,” Loki states in his laid out position. “All I can say about him is that I've expanded his mind.”

            I took a deep breath and turned to face him.

            “And once you've won, once you're king of Midgard,” I state. “What happens to his mind?”

            “You care for the mortal?” Loki asks tilting his head up at me.

            “He’s my friend,” I answer. “I confided in him.”

            “About what?” Loki asks me interested. He motions for the chair nearby me and I reluctantly take a seat. “Tell me.”

            “It was after Thor’s visit, I heard some bad news from Jane Foster that there hadn’t been any signs of the bridge between Midgard and Asgard. I feared… I feared that I had lost my chance to go home.”

            “You saw Thor when he was banished here?” Loki asks me.

            “You didn’t know?” I ask him. “We had a brief meeting. I thought he would have told you.”

            “I didn’t give him the chance,” Loki says looking away from me. “I attempted to kill him shortly after he returned back home.”

            “You would kill your own brother?” I ask him.

            “He’s not my brother!” Loki shouts at me. I slightly stumble back at the sudden anger he courted. It didn’t take long for Loki to settle back down but I could still tell the tension all over his body. “Continue with your earlier story, I believe we’ve gotten off track.”

            “Agent Barton agreed to spar with me so I could let go of all these pent up emotions of not being able to go home.” I tell Loki. “I confided in him about my fears of what I could have left behind.”

            “And what fears were those?”

            “I was afraid I had left a family, kids, or a husband…” I say quickly. “I mainly feared that whatever I left behind was either insignificant or worth the risk of being sent here. I just… feared the unknown. I fear it even more now that I have two people who knew me before this. I feel like I have this expectation to remember but I can’t.”

            I find myself closing my eyes for a split second, ignoring the stare that Loki had on me. I took a deep breath and calmed myself for the second time in this interrogation.

            “Agent Barton heard me out in my fears and calmed me down.” I tell Loki. “He’s a great man.”

            “And what will you do if I vow to spare him?” Loki asks me.

            “Not let you out of this cell,” I answer.

            “How about you join me in here then?” Loki asks with a grin.

“Nice try, but no.” I tell him.

            Loki shakes his head at me as he stands up once more. He stands at the edge of the cell staring at me directly.

            “I can see the game you’re trying to play, Serena. Your kindness is forced and your attempts to appeal to me because I love you and you are my inevitable blind spot.” Loki states. “I love you, Serena. I really do, but none of it matters if you don’t love me back and you don’t.”

            “I don’t,” I repeat honestly. “You’re a monster and I will become one who knows when. Whether that time is before I remember who you were to me or if it’s long after you fail trying to achieve conquering this world. Either way, monster or not, or if I remembered so simply that I did indeed love you, I will never stand by you. I refuse to believe I fell in love with a man this cruel.”

            “Rejecting one monster to fall for another one,” Loki grits out. “I don’t know how that’s any better.”

            “What are you insinuating?!” I shout.

            “Agent Barton told me everything about your time here.” Loki states. “How you have this grand illusion to help mortals who can’t even help themselves? Isn’t it obvious by that great power that you possess, that you are meant for better things? That you are meant to rule these creatures instead of standing by them. Whatever you’re doing right now, fighting or helping, to aid this lesser world… its the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer... PATHETIC!”

            I jump back from the cell, stumbling onto the chair.

            “Your so called friends from SHIELD lie and kill in the service of liars and killers.” Loki exclaims. “Your precious SHIELD pretends to be separate, to have their own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you now, and they will never go away!”

            Loki slams the cell and I flinch.

            “Your naïve and innocent mind just sentenced Barton to a very painful death.” Loki grits out. “But not after he goes after every one of your beloved friends from this world. The man of metal, the man out of his time, the female spider, that pathetic old agent… everyone who’s aided you in any way, will die. And then Barton will wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull!”

            “Why would you…?” I ask him. “Why would you do that to me?”

            “Don’t you understand?” Loki asks from the cell in desperation. “You are mine. You confide in me. You trust me. You aid me. Serena, I’m the only one who understands you and appreciates you. Never have I ever taken advantage of your gifts but these people… these mortals have you chained. I wish to set you free in the only way I know how.”

            “Murder?” I ask him. “That’s your answer?”

            I step closer to his cell trying to stop myself from shaking.

            “How could I have ever fallen for a man who would murder so carelessly the people who have helped me?” I ask him. “You truly are a monster…”

            “You have a thing for monsters, Serena.” Loki taunts. “You can’t help yourself but be attracted to them, can’t you?”

            I pause as I hear his questions. This was the second time he’s referred to Bruce in a jealous manor. This was the confirmation that I needed.

            “So, Bruce... that's your play.” I say standing up straight.

            “What?” Loki asks confused.

            “Loki means to unleash the Hulk.” I say as I turn my earpiece on. “Keep Bruce in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well.” I pause at the end of the runway and nod towards Loki. “Thank you for your cooperation, Loki. It’s good to know that you really can’t lie to me.”

            I quickly make my way out and leave a stunned Loki behind.

 


	18. Chapter 18

            I make my way back to the lab after my interrogation with Loki. As I walked in, there seemed to be an argument arising between Tony, Bruce, and Director Fury. I took the earpiece out of my ear and throw it on the table catching mostly everyone’s attention. 

            “What is going on here?” I ask them, staring at Director Fury, Bruce, and Tony.  

            “Mr. Stark hacked into SHIELD’s database instead of looking for the Tesseract.” Director Fury states before facing them. “The Tesseract should be everyone’s focus right now.” 

            “It is.” Bruce responds. “The model's locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile.” 

            “And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss.” Tony states before turning the monitor around for us to see. “What is PHASE 2?” 

            “PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons.” Steve answers dropping a huge gun on the table between us. “Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow.” 

            “Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we’re…” Director Fury starts to explain before Tony interrupts him.

            “I'm sorry, Nick.” Tony says opening up more files revealing plans for multiple weapons. “What were you lying?” 

            “My file…” I pipe in. Director Fury looks at me as I said this and Tony plays with the screen of the tablet before handing it to me. My silver eyes take over as I start to read through the old translations and the myths Fury supposedly had on me. I couldn’t read much more before throwing the tablet on the table. “You lied to me. Lied to me about the translations.” 

            “The real story is far worse.” Director Fury states.

            “So I’ve realized.” I answer in horror. “I’ll grow into a heartless monster. My heart turned into ice and I’ll go after everything and everyone. But why did you lie to me?”

            “To keep the most powerful weapon close.” Tony answers. 

            “I was wrong, Director.” Steve comments. “The world hasn't changed a bit.” 

            Natasha and Thor walk in at this moment, clearly sensing the tension in the room. It was obvious by the things on the table the source of the arguments. 

            “Did you know about this?” I ask Natasha, my voice cracking, as I motioned to the file on the table. “Did you?”

            Natasha doesn’t answer and instead looks behind me to Bruce. 

            “You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” Natasha asks him. 

            “I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.” Bruce answers. 

            “Loki's manipulating you.” Natasha tells him. 

            “And SHIELD’S been doing what exactly?” Bruce asks. 

            “You didn't come here because Serena and I bat our eyelashes at you.” Natasha remarks. 

            “Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy.” Bruce states. “I’d like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.” 

            “Because of them.” Director answers pointing at Thor and I. 

            I couldn’t help but scoff and turn away. 

            “Us?” Thor asks confused. 

            “Last year earth had, not one, but _two_ visitors from another planet. One of them who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.” Fury explains. 

            “My people want nothing but peace with your planet.” Thor exclaims. 

            “And I’ve offered my full services for you and SHIELD. _”_ I tell Fury. “What more could you possibly fear from us?”

            “You're not the only people out there, are you?” Director Fury asks us. “And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled.” 

            “Like you controlled the cube?” Steve asks him instead. 

            “You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies.” Thor tells Fury. “It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.” 

            “A higher form?” Steve asks concerned. 

            “You and Serena forced our hand.” Fury argues. “We had to come up with something.” 

            “Nuclear deterrent,” Tony pipes in annoyed. “Cause that always calms everything right down.” 

            “Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?” Fury exclaims. 

            “I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep…” Steve starts to say before being interrupted by Tony.

            “Wait! Wait!” Tony exclaims. “Hold on! How is this now about me?” 

            “I'm sorry, isn't everything?” 

            “Stop it,” I whisper. 

            “I thought humans were more evolved than this.” Thor comments. 

            “Excuse me, did _we_ come to _your_ planet and blow stuff up?” Nick asks him.

            “Did you always give your champions such mistrust?” Thor asks him instead. 

            “Everyone please stop.” I whisper as my headache seemed to return with full force. The stress of the situation adding on to my pain.

            “Are you boys really that naive?” Natasha asks. “SHIELD monitors potential threats.”

            “Captain America is on threat watch list?” Bruce asks in disbelief. 

            “We all are.” Natasha exclaims. 

            “Quiet…” I whisper as I clutch my head, my silver claws tangling in my hair. “Everyone quiet…” 

            “You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?”

            “I swear to God, Stark if you make one more wise crack…” 

            “Threatening! I feel threatened!” 

            “Why don’t you show some respect?”

            “Respect? Respect what…” 

            The argument rose with volume and tension. My head was splitting from my skull and all I could see was silver in my eyes. 

            “Stop…” I continue to whimper as I strayed away from the argument. “Stop please…” 

            “You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” 

            “It's his M.O., isn't it?” Bruce asks. “I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no…We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb.” 

            “You need to step away.” Director Fury states. 

            “Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?” Tony remarks. 

            “You know damn well why! Back off!” Steve exclaims. 

            “Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me.” Tony responds. 

            “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?” Steve asks him. 

            “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” 

            “I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage.” Steve tells him. “The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over  you.”

            “I think I would just cut the wire.” 

            Steve chuckles at this.

            “Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.” 

            “A hero? Like you?” Tony remarks annoyed. “You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!” 

            “Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds.” 

            Thor laughs at this. 

            “You people are so petty... and tiny.” Thor comments. 

            “Yeah, this is a team…” 

            The argument was rising up again and I couldn’t help but shake. My head was bursting as if something was desperately trying to claw out. I whimper and groan, being unheard as everyone fought with each other. I drop to my knees and couldn’t help myself but scream. 

            “EVERYONE STOP!”

            The piercing noise of my scream causes several of the monitors to shut down and start back up again. The tables shook before settling down. My eyes were closed and I could finally breathe, I could finally hear silence. I open my eyes and found my wings flapping beside me. My claws were out and my mouth felt strange. Everyone was looking at me strangely. 

            I open my mouth to speak before I felt it. My hands move to my face and I could feel the fangs that were in my mouth. The sharp, throat-tearing canines that decorated my face now. I immediately pulled back all of my Siren features and I start to crawl away from them. Disgusted by what I had just endured.

            “Agent Romanoff, would you escort Serena back to her…” 

            “Where? You rented off our room.” Bruce exclaims.

            “It’s ok, Bruce.” I say as Thor helps me up the floor. “I’ll like to… I’ll like to be locked up please.”

            “No!”

            “The cell was just in case…” Fury starts to explain.

            “In case you needed to kill us… _me_ , but you can't! I know! I tried!” Bruce exclaims. The room becomes deadly silent. We all stared at Bruce in surprise. “I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!” 

            I couldn’t help but sigh as I heard this. My heart breaking slightly at the story. Bruce just stared at me with a blank unnerving stare.

            “You wanna know my secret, Serena?” Bruce asks me. “You wanna know how I stay calm?” 

            “Bruce…” I whisper as my eyes go from his eyes down to the object in his hands. “Put down the scepter.” 

            Bruce looks down and seems surprised at his hold on the Loki’s scepter. Before he can come up with an explanation, the computer beeps and we all turn to it.

            “Got it.” Bruce states as he puts down the scepter and walks over to the computer. “Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all.” 

            “You’ve located the Tesseract?” Thor asks him.

            “I can get there faster.” Tony comments. 

            “Look, all of us…” Steve begins to say before Thor interrupts him.

            “The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it.” 

            Tony ignores this and starts to leave before Steve stops him.

            “You're not going alone!” 

            “You gonna stop me?” Tony asks him.

            “Put on the suit, let's find out.” Steve remarks.

            “I'm not afraid to hit an old man.”

            “ _Put on the suit._ ” 

            I ignore the argument arising between Steve and Tony, trying to avoid another evolving episode from occurring. Instead, I walk over to Bruce who pulls up the location of the Tesseract onto the monitor. Both of our eyes narrow at the map before realizing what it pinpointed to.

            “Oh, my God!” Bruce exclaims. 

            “The tesseract is located here-” I start to say before an explosion throws me through the air. I feel the glass shatter behind me. My wings expand, trying to soften my fall, but a pipeline falls on top of it. I scream out in pain as smoke and fire filled the air around me, obscuring my sight of what happened and where everyone had fallen to. A growl from an inhuman gave me a sign that I wasn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was more of a filler chapter but I promise that the next one involves Serena and Loki. Shit is about to really go down.


	19. Chapter 19

The air clears out and I’m struggling to keep myself calm. My wing was causing me tremendous pain as it was tucked under a fallen pipe and I was trying my best not to let out painful screams. Bruce was groaning beside me and I knew from the both of us, he had to be the one to watch out for. I whimper as another wave of pain shoots through me but by some godly miracle my mind was clear to focus. 

            “Bruce?” I ask him softly. “You gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me.” 

            Bruce starts to groan and sits up, shaking in pain or rage. 

            “We're gonna be okay. Right?” I mutter more to myself than to him. “I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never…” 

            Bruce’s skin was turning green and I was panicking. There was no turning back from this point and I had no ideas what protocol I had to follow now. 

            “ _Your life_?” Bruce shouts, his voice deeper and almost unrecognizable. 

            “Bruce, please…” I whimper as his soft brown eyes meet mine with fear. 

            That was the last glance I got of Bruce as he tumbles back as the transformation takes hold. Even though I was possibly putting others at risk, I had no other choice but to open my mouth and sing. 

 

            _I was afraid to make a single sound_

_Afraid I will never find a way out_

_Afraid I never be found_

_I don’t wanna go another round_

 

_An angry man's power will shut you up_

_Trip wires fill this house with tiptoed love_

_Run out of excuses with every word_

_So here I am and I will not run_

 

            I stop singing when I hear the inhuman growl. I couldn’t stay here any longer. Bruce… the Hulk rose up, breaking pipes as he stood up. I wish I didn’t have to run, but my song didn’t work for Bruce or the Hulk. My song wasn’t sung in vain though as my wing healed up enough for me to slip out of the pipe. I pull my wings back and turn to look at Hulk. His head turns to me and I’m met with dark eyes I couldn’t recognize. Without hesitation, I start to sprint away and Hulk starts to run after me. 

            I climb up the stairs before flipping myself over a rail, barely reached the ramp before the Hulk pulled broke down the levels. I start to sprint in a very narrow and tight ramp way which should have derailed the Hulk but he followed after me, breaking the nearby pipelines and lights behind me. 

            I ducked under and swung my way over random railings until I slow down. I was in a very deserted and small area of… wherever I was as. I did my best to keep my fast breathing quiet as I silently but quickly made my way down the metal corridor. 

            I continue to move as I didn’t hear the Hulk nearby. I still looked around, heart beating fast, as I turned a corner and met face to face with theHulk. He lets out a deep growl and my silver eyes and claws extended as I let out a high pitching scream. This threw the Hulk off as I quickly sprinted away from him, only having mere seconds of a lead from him. 

            I run through another small corridor and the Hulk is right behind me, gaining speed and distance on me. Pipes and lights shatter and break behind me and I am trying my best to escape him. I could feel him getting nearer and before I could reach the drop ahead of me, the Hulk swings his arms at me and throws me to the nearby wall. 

            I groan at the full body impact and the Hulk is thrown back to the opposing wall. I quickly try to sit up, get ready for his next blow as he neared me, but it never came. Instead, Thor came flying in, sending the Hulk and himself through the wall into another section of the helicarrier. 

            There was no time to rest. Even though I desperately wanted to just breath and try to heal from the horrifying experience of almost dying. I push my panic away from the moment as I shakily stand on my two feet and make my way to the hole made on the wall. Midgardian men were running out of the area while Thor and the Hulk were fighting it out. 

            “Thor, watch out!” I shout as Hulk swings his arm down at him. 

            Thor barely manages to block it, barely withholding the matching strength of the Hulk’s blow.

            “We're not your enemies, Banner! Try to think!” Thor shouts at him but the Hulk takes the open shot and punches Thor across the room. 

            Before the Hulk could go after him, I whistle and grab the Hulk’s attention. I climb through the hole and stand surprisingly confident. My wings extend to their magnitude, silver eyes shining, silver claws clicking, and the new addition of my fangs displayed. 

            The Hulk immediately steps towards me and I let out a loud scream, forcing him to step back and groan as he covers his ears. I attempt to corner him but the Hulk becomes aware of my plans and lunges at me. I quickly duck and roll away from him. 

            “Thor!” I shout as Hulk slowly turns to find me. “A little help here would be nice!” 

            Hulk swings at me and I barely manage to dodge it. 

            “It’s coming!” Thor shouts after me. 

            “What in the bloody Hel is coming?” I shout after him as I frantically try to avoid the Hulk’s swings, cutting it dangerously close every time. Before Hulk can come after me again, a crashing noise catches his attention. Hulk goes running after it and I immediately pull back just in time to see Thor knocking the Hulk back with mjölnir in hand. 

            This sends the Hulk crashing into a nearby jet. He wasn’t unconscious and merely shakes his head before growling angrier than he was before. I quickly make my way to Thor and help him up. 

            Without a word, we both start sprinting towards the Hulk. He sends the wing of the jet towards us and Thor slides under it while I leap above it. Thor then throws mjölnir at the Hulk and he catches it. This sends the Hulk back and causes him to be pinned down by mjölnir. The Hulk attempts to get himself out of mjölnir but I swoop in and swipe my claws at his face, forcing him to fall back. 

            Before Hulk can recover, Thor grabs a hold of mjölnir and swings around the Hulk’s neck, choking him slightly, in hopes of making him pass out. This didn’t keep the Hulk grounded for long as he tries to throw Thor off of him. Before I knew it, the Hulk jumps upwards and they are crashing into the upper level. 

            I immediately fly through the other Hulk/Thor made hole and find the Hulk throwing Thor around. I let out another piercing scream which stilled him once more. Before more could be done, bullets start penetrating through the room. I wouldn’t have managed to dodge them if it weren’t for the Hulk who quickly swung me out of the room. I land next to Thor and he quickly pulls me under him as we scramble out of shooting range. He quickly reaches for mjölnir and I let out a sigh of relief. That is, until I heard what was going on in the monitors nearby. 

            “ _Approaching Detention Level alone. Heavily armed. Send backup when possible.”_

            I quickly rise to my feet, no longer afraid of the Hulk seeing that he had jumped out of the helicarrier at some point. Thor looks up at me in concern as I quickly start to run out of the room. 

            “Serena where are you going?” Thor shouts after me. 

            “Phil,” I sigh out with fear rattling deep in my bones. “He wants to face Loki, _alone._ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's another filler. I promise the next chapter is Serena and Loki. 
> 
> Song Inspiration for this chapter: Guts Over Fear by Eminem & Sia


	20. Chapter 20

Thor moves ahead of me as I unlock all of the secured doors that led to Loki’s chamber. I voiced out that he should wait for me but the prince of Asgard did as he pleased. I ran after him, unlocking the last secured door. Thor quickly barges in with Mjolnir by his side. We catch sight of Loki stepping out of the cage and before I could warn Thor to wait, he ran straight through Loki. Thor landed inside of the cage and it sealed closed.

            “Are you ever not going to fall for that?” Loki laughs out as he comes out from behind the control panel.

            “Loki…” I whisper as an attempt to gain his attention. I succeed as he immediately turns to me. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

            “I am the God of Mischief,” Loki answers. “What do you think I’m doing?” 

            “Chaos does not bode well for this world.” I tell him. “Please lay down this need of power and allow Thor and I to bring you back home. Let me come home with you.” 

            Loki pauses and he seems to really consider my offer. 

            “I…” he starts of before something in his clear eyes darkened. “Seize her.”

            “What?” I exclaim as two of his sired men take my arms and pin them behind me. 

            Thor seeing me being man handled quickly tries to break out of the cage. He slams Mjolnir onto the glass cell, cracking it slightly. This caused the whole cell to shake and slip further down it’s hold. 

            “The humans think us immortal.” Loki states as he wanders around the control panel stopping in front of the drop button. “Should we test that?” 

            All of a sudden, I feel a weight on my back and I step away to find Loki’s agent falling down to the ground. I look up and find Phil standing there holding a very huge gun. The other agent pulled me back and held a gun to my head. Phil stepped back but still had the gun up. 

            “Move away, please.” Phil orders Loki. Loki does as he says and takes a step back from the control panel as he eyes the big weapon. “You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?” 

            Everything happened to quick. A flicker of his aura appeared behind Phil and I cried out my warning to late. My warning was always coming to late. 

            “Phil!” I shout as I struggled in the agent’s arms. 

            Phil just lets out a loud gasp and I freeze as I see Loki’s scepter impaling him through his heart. 

            “No…” I whisper as Phil drops against the wall, blood leaving a wet trail. Loki remained standing, a grin on his face. Something breaks inside me as I see Phil’s bleeding heart. My heart hurt, alongside my head, and I could feel myself shifting… evolving once more.

            My wings expanded, knocking the agent behind me out. I was ready to attack Loki, my silver eyes trailing his every move, my fangs and claws ready to draw blood,and I felt the scales shifting and formatting themselves like armor. I was ready to attack, but it all stopped as Phil took a loud shattering breath. My humanity was stronger than my Siren heart. 

            “Phil?” I ask as I immediately kneel next to him. I start humming out a song, one of his favorite melodies from that cello playing girlfriend of his. “You gotta stay with me Phil.” 

            Phil coughs up blood which I knew wasn’t a good sign in the human anatomy. Even at the face of death, Phil smiled at me reassuringly. 

            “How does that song go?” I ask him. “The one you like?” 

            “I doubt you could sing me into staying alive, Serena.” 

            “Well it won’t hurt to try,” I whimper out as tears rose to my eyes. “What would I do without you?” 

            “Avenge me,” Phil whispers into my ear. 

            “No, don’t make me.” I cry out. “You’re too important to me, Phil. I need you to survive this. I need you to stay.” 

            Phil only chuckled at this as he smoothed down my hair. 

            “I loved you like you were my own.” Phil tells me. “You were the daughter I never had.” 

            I choke in the sob as I hear my heart stilled a little more.

            “Save him.” Phil whispers to me. 

            I turn around and find Loki behind the control panel again and this time his hand was hovering over the hatch button. Thor looked at him, pleading to his brother not to push that button, but the answer was clear on Loki’s face.

            “Loki, don’t!” I shout as I run through the ramp. Thor looks at me apologetically. For what? I don’t have the faintest clue. Thor’s face is the last thing I see as the whole cell drops from the sky. 

            I gasp as my heart aches again, beating slower. I hold my hand on my chest, confused as to what was going on. I turn around and find Loki waiting for me at the end of the ramp. 

            “Serena, we must go before it’s too late.” 

            Loki extends his hand to me and my mind flashes a memory of him extending his hand to help me up. 

            “My beloved,” I start off in shock. “What have you done?” 

            Shock was evident in his face as he realizes that I started to remember him. 

            “Serena…” he calls out as he takes a step forward me. My horror drove me to take a step back and Loki becomes alarmed. “Serena, stop… don’t run away from me.”

            His words shocked my brain into another memory of Loki and a garden. I involuntarily take a step back. 

            “Serena!” 

            More memories rushed into my mind and I couldn’t stop myself. The ledge was closer than I thought and I feel my foot step into nothing but air. 

            “Serena!”

            Unlike Thor, I had no glass cell to surround me. I fell from the Midgardian sky with no idea if I would survive the trip I was in. My wings extend, trying to slow down my fall, and my heart begins to stop its beating. Claws and fangs extend, and my eyes turn silver. The scales from before grow and stretch and mold together. I no longer felt pain… I no longer felt _anything._

            I felt my skin burning with such intensity. This is what I imagined a Phoenix would feel as it is reborn from the embers of its past life. All of their worries being scorched from their skin allowing it to be reborn into something new, something better. 

            I closed my eyes and watched my past life flash before my eyes. My mind was unlocked and I remembered everything. I remembered the Asgardian ocean and my father and mother. I remembered their deaths and my time at the castle. I remember Thor and the Warriors Three. I remembered training Lady Sif in the arts of combat, the same way my father had taught me. I remembered Heimdal’s guidance. I remembered Frigga and her kindness. I remembered Odin and his distance and above all, I remembered Loki. My beloved, Loki, who loved me when I couldn’t love myself. 

            I knew I should have felt some sort of relief but I couldn’t. My heart no longer felt anything and I recalled what I had been told in Asgard. A Siren’s gene is only activated when the beloved men in her life were to hurt her in some way. I had been hurt… betrayed in so many aspects of my life that I’m not surprised that my evolution was completed. 

            My wings extended even larger than before and my silver eyes shone brighter. My clothes were torn away from my skin as scales decorated my body with the most beautiful emerald color. My claws grew larger and my fangs became sharper. As for my heart… my heart was as cold as the ocean’s deepest water, frozen. 

            My evolution was complete. 

            A good sign for me… but not for everyone else. 


	21. Chapter 21

            The water welcomed me as their own. It caught me from the sky and wrapped itself around me. It eased the pain of my new form and I felt like I could finally breathe. After being left in the darkness, I decided it was time for me to return to Midgard. I swam the miles back to the water’s edge and from there, I returned to my human form. 

            My naked legs were soon wrapped with the silk of cloth made by own magic. The water that still clung to my skin turn to an azure silk dress that moved like slow gentle waves in the wind. I tilt my head to the side and find a Midgardian couple looking at me in shock. I make my way towards them with a smile. 

            “Would you care to point me in the direction of New York?” 

            The girl tugged the guy’s sleeve in shock, but he paid her no mind. It wasn’t that surprising that he couldn’t take his eyes away from me. Men were meant to be drawn to me, either by my beauty or the seducting power that I slightly emitted. It didn’t take long for him to shakily point behind him. 

            “Thank you,” I tell him as I start to walk to that direction. 

            “Do you need a ride?” he offers up behind me. 

            “Andrew!” chastised his girlfriend, causing me to smile in amusement. 

            “No, thank you Andy.” I say with a grin. “I prefer to fly.” 

            Without another word, I extend my wings. My dress shifts to accommodate them and I am off. It doesn’t take long to reach New York and I find that my beloved Loki didn’t even bother to hide. He stands at the balcony of Stark tower waiting. I see Tony head there with his Iron Man suit and I knew I couldn’t have him stepping in.

            Tony lands his suit on the balcony shortly after Loki has gone back inside. I see JARVIS dismantling him of his suit so he can go in, but I stop Tony before he can do so. 

            “Serena?” Tony asks in shock as he finds me in front of him. “We thought you were dead. You fell from the sky… I…”

            “He’s mine,” I say ignoring his relieved words. “Don’t interfere.” 

            Tony takes a step back and looks at me. 

            “You’re not you.” 

            “No, I’m still myself.” I tell him with a smile. “I just received an upgrade though, finished my evolution.” 

            “Serena…” 

            “I’m still in control, Tony.” I state. “But if you intervene with Loki, I will find myself having to control you, understood?” 

            Tony nods nervously at this. 

            “What are you going to do?” 

            “I’m going to have a word with my fiance,” I answer as I make my way inside. “I’m going to make him surrender.” 

            I ignore Tony’s shock and wave him away. 

            “Now off you go,” I tell him as his suit is brought forward, a newer one. “This is no longer of your concern.”

            I wait, my back towards him, until I hear Tony fly away. Once that is done, I make my way inside the penthouse. Loki’s shock is genuine as I make my way inside. I hum out a gentle melody, one that he flinches to. I knew I couldn’t control him, it was that second nature of his that made it hard for me to do so. It was fun though to see him grimace at the memory of the melody. 

            “Please stop with the song,” Loki pleads. “And just go on, try to appeal to my humanity.” 

            “Oh my love,” I sigh out as I make my way towards him. “We’re past that. I'm here to threaten you.” 

            “You shouldn’t have come alone then,” Loki replies. “You should have left the Man of Armor assist you.” 

            “Would you really hurt me Loki?” I ask him. “I mean… more than you already have.” 

            “Don’t try to guilt trip me, it won’t work.” Loki replies. 

            “It used to,” I answer. “Don’t you remember when I found out of that bet with you and Thor? You gave in to my every wish and whim in order for me to forgive you.” 

            Loki shakes his head at me and turns away. 

            “Stop this,” Loki grits out. “Stalling me won't change anything.” 

            “Oh, no, no, no!” I exclaim. “I’m threatening you, remember my dear?”

            “The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that.” Loki states. “What have I to fear?” 

            “Don’t forget that the same way you can read me, I can _read_ you.” I answer. “You’re afraid of losing me, but let me ease your mind, Loki.” 

            I pull his chin to face me and I lean into his ear. 

            “You’ve already lost me.”

            Loki pulls me away from him and reads my grinning expression. I see his face falls in realization of what’s occurred. 

            “You’ve evolved,” Loki states. “Your evolution is complete.” 

            “Yes it is,” I tell him. “And you will fear me, my love. You will fear me and my friends. _The Avengers._ That’s what we call ourselves, we’re a team. _Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”_

            Loki still seems in shock by my new development and takes a step back. This doesn’t stop him from his genuine reaction to the mentioning of the others. 

            “Yes, I've met them.” 

“It takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one.” I say with a nod. “But nevertheless we are still there. Let me see…your brother; the son of Odin, a super soldier, a living legend who lives up to the legend, a man with breath-taking anger management issues, a couple ofmaster assassins, and me, a fully evolved Siren. I wonder what kind of mischief I can find myself in.” 

            I couldn’t help but laugh at that before returning to the matter at hand. 

            “The case is Loki…you have managed to cross every single one of us by killing Phil Coulson.” 

            “That was the plan.” Loki answers with his confidence slowly growing back. 

            “Not a great plan.” I answer. “When they come, and they _will_ , they'll come for you.” 

            “I have an army.” 

            “We have a Hulk.” I answer just as quickly. 

            “I thought the beast had wandered off.” Loki points out. 

            “We’ve always been drawn to each other, Loki. This proves it. Not even worlds could keep us apart. You and I will always find our way with one another.” I place my hand on his cheek and look deep into his eyes. “It so happens that Bruce and I work the same way.” 

            Loki’s rage seeps through and he grabs my wrist tightly and pulls it away from his face. 

            “Jealousy never suited you, my love.” I taunt as his hand tightens against my wrist. “But I seem to have gotten carried away again.” 

            I look back into his eyes and find him searching for answers in my own. 

            “There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe yourarmy comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll _avenge_ it.” 

            It took me by surprise and Loki’s grip tightens and he forces me onto my knees. 

            “How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting _you_?” Loki presses the end of the scepter on my heart and nothing happens. I look up at him awaiting for his response. “It should work.” 

            “Oh my love, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.” I taunt. “I’ve evolved. My heart is frozen.” I stand up to meet him and laugh at his face. “I don’t _feel_ anything.” 

            My laughter is cut short as I felt an anger within me.

            “You made me like this,” I grit out as my eyes flicker silver and fangs begin to extend. “Look at what you’ve created, Loki. Tell me what you see.” 

            I let my true form show and I could see Loki fail to hide his horror. My dress washes off of me revealing my final Siren state. My legs formed into one snake-like tail with emerald scales adorning my body. My wings were larger and expanded behind me with blue and green feathers. My eyes were bright silver and my fangs and claws matched their color. My black hair cascaded through my shoulders, curling under my breasts that were covered in gold armor. 

            “Serena…” he calls out. 

            I let out a screeching scream and Loki kneels in pain as he clutches his head. I then swing my hand and send him flying across the room. Without hesitation, I jump out of the glass windows and into the war zone below. The portal was open and the Chitauri were arriving to conquer, but I wasn’t going to let them. 


	22. Chapter 22

             People were screaming around the city in fear. Their eyes cast upwards at the portal in which thousands of Chitauri’s were spilling down into the city. Tony was trying to stop as many of the Chitauri from exiting the portal but they were becoming too much for him. Chaos and destruction erupted out on the streets and Serene did her best in making everyone evacuate and move to a safer location. 

            The Chitauri, who were under the control of Loki, couldn’t have their mind affected by Serena’s song. Though it didn’t matter, the Chitauri were instructed to not attack Serena and it was something that was causing Loki to lose a few men. Every Chitauri who flanked Serena’s side for protection were taken down. After a while, Serena looked up at Loki with agitation before moving on. 

            Loki remained standing at the terrace looking at the city before him fall. He wasn’t trying to hide and so it made it easier for his so-called brother, who had managed to survive the tremendous fall as well, to find him in the midst of a war. 

            “Loki!” Thor yells out. “Turn off the Tesseract or I’ll destroy it!” 

            “You can’t.” Loki tells him. “There is no stopping it. There is only the war!”

            “So be it.” 

            Thor runs towards Loki, who was prepared for his attack. Their weapons clash against each other and storm clouds begin to brew in the sky. Loki’s attacks were filled with rage and anger while Thor had no other choice but to defend himself. 

            As Loki and Thor settled their differences, Serena and Tony were doing their best in fighting of the Chitauri on their own. Serena fought them off on the ground level while Tony took the flyers. Luckily for both of them the rest of the calvary managed to catch up. 

            “ _Stark, we're heading north east._ ” 

            “What, did you stop for drive-thru?” Tony exclaims as he’s being chased down by three Chitauri on flying chariots. “Swing up the park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you.” 

            As Tony made a swift turn, one of the chariots crashes against the building. The other two still remained chasing after Tony until he reached the park in which the last two were obliterated by quinjet’s machine gun. 

            “ _Sir, we have more incoming.”_ Jarvis warns Tony. 

            Having no other choice, Tony starts to fly out once more and heads back to the portal in order to stop more from incoming. 

            The battle between siblings still continued as Thor an Loki battled harshly with one another. Loki sends a shot through the scepter sending Thor sliding across the balcony. Clint sees this occur and motions to Natasha. 

            “See them.” Natasha states as she turns the machine gun on them. Thousands of bullets are sent to the balcony and Thor and Loki are forced to take cover. Once the shots are done, Loki quickly rises to his feet and sends a shot from his scepter to the quinjet. The energy blast causes one of the wings of the quinjet to catch fire and Clint is forced to a harsh landing. Thor, gaining his own footing, tackles Loki down to the ground before he could create more damage. 

            Rough landing aside, Clint and Natasha unbuckle themselves and open the ramp. Steve, in his Captain America suit, runs down the ramp first leading the two spies out onto the battlefield. The first thing they see is Serena, wings and claws and tail proudly shown, as she takes down three Chitauri in one go. Serena turns to them breathing heavily. 

            “By the Norns!” Serena exclaims. “It’s about time you arrived.” 

            Serena shifts back into her human form, a gown now covering her body instead of scales. She ignores the shocked look on their faces as she takes the comm piece from Clint’s hand and puts it into her ear. 

            “You all have some catching up to do.” Serena says before shifting back to her Siren form and flying after a Chitauri on a chariot. 

            Breaking through their shock, Natasha, Clint, and Steve started to work the ground level. It didn’t help that the portal was still open and instead of a thousand of soldiers flying out, it was a leviathan creature _holding_ thousands of Chitauri soldiers. 

            “ _Are you seeing this?_ ” Steve asks through the comm piece. 

            “ _I'm seeing,_ ” Tony answers. “ _Still working on believing.”_

            “Has anyone seen Bruce?” Serena asks with a small grunt. “Has he shown up yet?” 

            “ _Banner?_ ” Steve asks confused. 

            “Just keep me posted.” Serena sighs out before focusing on the surrounding Chitauri chariots that were around her. 

            Thor, having the upper hand, weapons aside, forces Loki’s face to look straight ahead. He forces him to watch as the city burns to ash in front of them. 

            “Look at this! Look around you!” Thor exclaims. “You think this madness will end with your rule?” 

            Loki attempts to avoid the scene, but is unable too. His eyes find the beautiful green shimmer of Serena’s tail fly through the city as Chitauri continue to flank her side and fail.

            “It's too late.” Loki murmurs. “It's too late to stop it.” 

            “No,” Thor states with determination. “We can. _Together.”_

            Loki turns to his brother with tear-brimmed eyes, but he knew he couldn’t stop. There were bigger forces, forces beyond them, that couldn’t be stopped. Having no other choice, Loki slips the small knife hidden in his armor and stabs Thor with it. Taken by surprise, Thor weakens and Loki pushes his brother back. 

            “ _Sentiment_ ,” Loki grits out in disgust. 

            Thor immediately gets up. He kicks Loki before grabbing him and lifting him up into the air. Thor then slams Loki down onto the ground, hard. 

            “Don’t you dare act like you are void of emotions,” Thor exclaims. “I see the way you’ve looked at her. I see the love that you still hold for her. You don’t _deserve_ her!” 

            “And you do?” Loki spits out. 

            Thor was shocked by the question, one that was settled a long time ago. Loki takes Thor’s shock to his advantage and rolls over the ledge. Thor immediately looks for his brother only to find him flying by in one of the chariots with a dozen of Chitauri following his lead.

            They were all fighting with everything they had. Serena and Tony were trying their best airborne while, Steve, Natasha, and Clint worked the ground level. When things got too overwhelming, Thor dropped in and caught up with Steve. 

            “What's the story upstairs?” Steve asks Thor.

            “The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable.” Thor explains to Steve. 

            “ _Thor is right.”_ Tony says through the comms. “ _We gotta deal with these guys.”_

            “How do we do this?” Natasha asks as she catches up with Steve and Thor. 

            “As a team.” Steve answers. 

            “I have unfinished business with Loki.” Thor claims. 

            “Yeah, get in line.” Clint mutters. 

            “ _Loki is mine_ ,” Serena grunts out as she shoves a flying chariot into the exterior of a building. “ _No one gets to lay a hand on him unless I tell you to.”_

            “Ok, ok…save it.” Steve exclaims through. “Loki’s gonna keep this fightfocused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark and Serena up top, he’s gonna need us…"

            Steve trails off as he sees Bruce ride in a small motorbike. 

            “So, this all seems horrible…” Bruce nervously says as he joins them. 

            “I've seen worse.” Natasha comments. 

            “Sorry. “ Bruce apologizes to Natasha, from the past and current situation. 

            “No,” Natasha counteracts with a small smile. “We could use a little worse.” 

            “Serena?” Steve calls out through the comms. “We got him.” 

            “ _Bruce?”_ Serena asks for the first time with a sense of emotion. 

            “Just like you said.” Steve sighs out. 

            “ _Tell him to suit up.”_ Tony states. “ _I'm bringing the party to you.”_

            They all look up to find Tony turning around the corner of the building. Seconds later, a Leviathan follows after him. 

            “I... I don't see how that's a party…” Natasha comments tiredly. 

            The Leviathan continues to follow Tony even as he descends lower and lower onto the street. Bruce starts to head towards the direction of the incoming Leviathan. 

            “Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry.” ****

**“** That's my secret, Captain.” Bruce tells Steve. “ I'm always angry.” 

            Bruce’s body starts to shift and grow. The Hulk had taken over and he jumps through the air and crashes against the Leviathan, bringing the entire creature down. Tony fires more rocket launchers to kill of the Chitauri still clinging onto the dead Leviathan. Serena attacked the escaping few and landed with the rest of them in her human form. They were all together at last, looking at the war ahead of them, and knowing that together they could defeat them all. 

            Loki saw this too and so he made a decision. 

            “Send the rest.” 


	23. Not an Update... Sorry

Hello readers!

I know it's been a long time since I've updated this story and I come here offering an explanation. I've been struggling with work and schoolwork these past few months which is why I primarily stopped writing. After the school year ended, I looked over my works and realized that I didn't like many of the scenes I've placed so I've decided to put the story on hold and edit this book. This is going to take a while and I promise that I will try my best to get all of this done and give you all an update that you deserve. 

Thank you so much for all the love and support! 


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